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[ISTORT^t^tHE BAHAI 
SPECIAL STUDY OF THE ABOLITION OF 
SLAVERY IN THE COLONY 



JAMES MARTIN WRIGHT 



DISSERTATION 

|p EMITTED TO THE BOARD OF UNIVERSITY STUDIES OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS 

UNIVERSITY IN CONFORMITY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS FOR 

THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 



SPECIAL PUBLICATION FROM 

THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 

BY PERMISSION OF 

THti: Geographical Society of Baltimore 

1905' 



■■^n5 



/ 






THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 



Copyright, 1905, by 
THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF BALTIMORE 



THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 
OF BALTIMORE 



THE 
BAHAMA ISLANDS 



EDITED BY 

GEORGE BURBANK SHATTUCK, Ph. D. 

Associate Professor of Physiographic Geology in the Johns Hopkins University 



THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS 



(new "^otrft 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
1905 

All rights reserved 



rilSTORY OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS, WITH A 

SPECIAL STUDY OF THE ABOLITION OF 

SLAVERY IN THE COLONY 



BY 

JAMES MARTIN WRIGHT 



DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED TO THE BOARD OF UNIVERSITY STUDIES OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS 

UNIVERSITY IN CONFORMITY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS FOR 

THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 



SPECIAL PUBLICATION FROM 

THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 

by permission of 

The Geographical Society of Baltimore 

1905 







BALTIMOEE, MD., U. S. A. 



vT 



>. 



^^ 



HISTORY OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS, WITH A 

SPECIAL STUDY OF THE ABOLITION OF 

SLAVERY IN THE COLONY 



27 



HISTORY OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS, WITH A 

SPECIAL STUDY OF THE ABOLITION OF 

SLAVERY IN THE COLONY 



BY 

JAMES M. WRIGHT 



INTRODUCTION. 



Investigation of the history of the Bahama Islands has been almost entirely 
neglected. Abundant materials for such a study are in existence, but, except 
for a pamphlet entitled The Bahama Islands; Notes on an Early Attempt at 
Colonization, by J. T. Hassam, efforts to present the substance of these mate- 
rials to the public have been lacking. Numerous short sketches of the Colony 
have been given in histories, and accounts of travels in the West Indies, such 
as Edwards' and Coke's histories, McKinnen's Tour of the West Indies, Proude's 
Bow of Ulysses and G. J. H. Northcroft's Sketches in Summerland. 

The history of the Bahamas presents many interesting problems. Among 
them, perhaps the most important, is that of the social elevation of the negro 
population. When Great Britain attempted to ameliorate the condition of 
these people she dealt with her West Indian possessions as if they were one 
body, and applied the same measures to all of them, notwithstanding the fact 
that many of their interests were actually divergent. This problem of amelior- 
ation in the successive stages of proscription of the slave trade, the regulations 
of the institution of slavery, and the transition to freedom through the appren- 
ticeship system, was a living issue for many years, while the latest phase of 
the question, to wit, the education of the liberated negro, continues to be of 
the utmost importance to the people of the Bahama Islands. 

The author of this paper, who was a member of the Bahama Expedition 
of the Geographical Society of Baltimore, spent the summer of 1903 at 
Nassau collecting materials on the history of the Bahama Islands, and the 
results of his researches are here presented. 

The despatches of the Governors and the Secretaries of State for the 
Colonies contain much information of great value, but there are certain gaps 



420 HISTORY 

in the records. None of those of the former, and only an incomplete file of 
the latter, for the period hefore 1829, are to be fonnd in the archives of the 
Bahama government, althongh the}^ are nearty complete after that time. The 
Governors' despatches are lacking also for more than a year in the period of 
the apprenticeship system.^ 

The author wishes to acknowledge the kindness of His Excellency, Sir 
Gilbert T. Carter, the former Governor of the Bahamas, of his Secretarj'-, Mr. 
H. S. Gladstone, of Mr. S. H. 0. Clutsam, cnstodian of the records of the 
House of Assembl}^, and of other officials of the government, in granting him 
access to the puljlic archives, and in furnishing him information that could not 
be gained from the records. Acknowledgments are also due to Professors John 
M. Vincent and W. W. Willoughby and Dr. J. C. Ballagh, of the Johns Hop- 
kins University, for counsel and criticism in the prosecution of this study. 

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE BAHAMAS PRIOR TO THE NINETEENTH 

CENTURY. 

The landfall of Columbus on his first voyage to America was one of the 
Bahama Islands. The question as to whether it was the present San Salvador 
or Watlings Island on which he first set foot is still a matter of controversy, 
and from evidence that has been brought to light it would seem that the dis- 
pute can never be definitely settled.^ But this coincidence, interesting though 
it is, influenced little the later history of the Bahamas. At the time of the 
discovery the Islands were inhabited by Indians who received the name 

^The chief sources used in writing this were: 
Votes of the House of Assembly. 
Votes of the Council (on the Legislative side). 
Despatches of Governors to Secretaries of State for the Colonies. 

(1829-1849). 
Despatches of Secretaries of State to the Governors. (1815-1849). 
Miscellaneous Letters of Governors. (1838-1851). 
Royal Gazette (Newspaper published at Nassau). 
Session Papers of Parliament. 

Relating to Slavery and Abolition, 1831-2, 46; 191, ff, and 297, ff; 
loc. cit, 20, questions No. 2811 to 2863; also 1836, 49 and pp. 
502-547. 
Relating to Land System and Apprenticeship, 1839, 35, 143, pp. 1-42; 
Toe. cit., 37, 487, pp. 1-20. 
Annual Register. 
Bahama Statutes. 
^ See discussion of this question by Fox in an article entitled " Attempt to 
Solve the Problem of the First Landing Place of Columbus in the New "World," in 
U. S. Coast & Geodetic Survey Repts., 1880, pp. 346-411. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 421 

of " Lucayans." Subsequently the Spaniards came and enticed them away, 
or forcibly deported them, to end their miserable lives in slavery in 
Spanish mines at Hispaniola and elsewhere. It is said that the Spaniards 
returned again and again to the Bahamas to kidnap the Indians until the 
Islands were completely depopulated of their native inhabitants, and left 
desolate. This may be too strong a statement of the case, but it is certain 
that there are no Lucayan Indians living in the Bahamas to-day, nor are 
there any traces of Lucayan blood to be seen in the present inhabitants. The 
Indian as an element in the population has completely vanished, and the only 
trace of his former existence in the Bahamas is the occasional discovery of 
Lucayan bones in lonely caverns scattered throughout the archipelago. Most 
of these remains have found their way to various museums in America, but a 
nearly perfect skull is now on exhibition in the Library at Nassau. A glance 
at this skull (Plate LXXX) will show that the Lucayan Indians possessed con- 
siderable cranial capacity, although they practiced artificial flattening of the 
head.' 

Another thing that attracted Spanish adventurers to the Bahamas was the 
fabled Fountain of Youth reputed to be located in or near them. The aged 
Ponce de Leon, who was guided to the Bimini Islands in 1513, actually bathed 
in a fountain there but was forced to turn away a disappointed man, without 
the restoration of his youth which he so much desired. 

The title to the Lucayan Islands, as the Bahamas were first called, 
which was given to the Spaniards by the Pope, was not left undisputed. 
English sea-rovers haunted the West Indies in order to prey on Spanish com- 
merce, and pirates who early resorted to these waters and rapidly increased 
in numbers, found among the keys of the Bahamas, havens of retreat where 
they could easily elude the clumsy Spanish galleons. 

In 1578, Queen Elizabeth granted Sir Humphrey Gilbert a title to lands 
in these parts not occupied by subjects of any other Christian power. Sir 
Humphrey included the Bahamas in this grant, although he made no attempt 
to settle them. But on October 30, 1629, another grant including the Bahama 
Islands was made by the sovereign of Great Britain, this time to Sir Eobert 
Heath, the Attorney-General. A few colonists were sent out under this patent 
and a settlement was formed on New Providence. This settlement was ill- 
fated, for the island was visited in 1641 by a force of Spanish seamen and 

^ For further discussion of Lucayan Indian remains, see paper by Prof. W. K. 
Brooks, On The Lucayan Indians, National Academy of Science, Vol. IV, pp. 215-222, 
Pis. I-XII. 



422 HISTORY 

the small band of Englishmen was captured and carried away. The place was 
then taken possession of by the Spaniards and held for about twenty jesivs. 

In the meantime^ while the Spanish were still in possession of New Provi- 
dence, a band of religious exiles, driven out from Bermuda, sailed southward 
to the Bahamas in 1649 and founded a settlement on the island of Eleuthera. 

The colony at New Providence did not attract a large number of settlers. 
It had a small force of defenders, generally less than fifty in number, and was 
consequently a prey for the spoiler. It was taken from the Spaniards in 
June, 1666, and Major Samuel Smith was sent from Jamaica with a small 
force to hold and govern it in the name of the King of England. The Span- 
iards assailed it again but without success and it continued in the hands of 
the English. Sir James Modyford, a brother of the Governor of Jamaica, was 
commissioned as Governor of the Bahamas in 1666. 

The efforts to colonize these Islands had thus far had meager results. 
Little had been done to secure peace and safety. A more dignified effort 
was authorized by Charles II in 1670 when he granted the Lords Proprietors 
of the Carolinas a charter for the establishment of a government in the 
Bahamas and charged them to give these Islands the same kind of government 
as the Carolinas. Captain John WentAvorth was made Governor in 1671 with 
instructions to choose a Council which should propose bills to the local parlia- 
ment for passage. He was further instructed to permit no person either to 
cut braziletto wood without license except on his own estate, or to coast for 
ambergris or wrecks, or fish for whales without license. In the following year 
the new Governor complained to the Governor of Jamaica that his colony of 
five hundred souls had been left without the means of protection, and that the 
Proprietors had issued no commands to him about it. He also asked for sup- 
plies from Jamaica. The need of more adequate defenses was shown in Janu- 
ary, 1684, when a number of Spanish ships from Havana under Juan de Larco 
captured and plundered the town of Nassau. 

It would seem that the Spanish were not without provocation for this 
descent upon Nassau, for one Eobert Clarke, who was Governor at the time, 
acting without authority from London, had issued commissions to privateers 
to prey on Spanish commerce. As soon as this insubordination was discov- 
ered in London, a successor was sent out with instructions to arrest Clarke and 
send him back to England for trial. But England was too late. Lilburne, 
the new Governor, was attempting to check the evils resulting from the con- 
duct of his predecessor when the Spanish appeared and sacked the town. The 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 433 

Spanish were now thoroughly angered. To their minds there were two reasons 
why Englishmen might be preyed npon : first, they were despised as heretics, 
and second, they had no rights in these seas and territories granted to Spain 
by the Pope. 

Under such conditions trading became hazardous in the Bahamas and no 
Englishman could venture near them without a convoy. Protests were of no 
avail. The Spanish Governor-General at Havana only sent back defiant mes- 
sages when appeals were made to him to put an end to the depredations. But 
the Spanish were not long to enjoy the possession of Kew Providence. The 
English Governor was soon restored, and, with his return to Nassau, a new 
period of piracy was ushered in. 

Buccaneering was indulged in freely by the inhabitants of the place. 
For brief periods, to be sure, during the next thirty years attempts were 
made to preserve law and order, but without avail, as so large a number of 
the population was engaged in piracy or at least in sympathy with it, that it 
was not possible for the government with the force at its command to stamp 
it out. A law-and-order governor was intolerable to the rovers. If he would 
not join in, or at least connive at, their conduct, he would be taken prisoner 
and held by the pirates. In 1703-4, when a combined French and Spanish 
expedition took the settlement by surprise and carried away the principal 
inhabitants to Havana, the pirates reigned with a freer hand than ever before.* 

Piracy with this settlement as a base became such a menace to the com- 
merce passing through these waters that merchants in Great Britain pressed 
upon George I to put a stop to it. The Lords Proprietors, who had so poorly 
succeeded in their enterprise, surrendered their control of the civil government 
to the Crown, and in 1718 Captain Woodes Eogers, a hardy and fearless sea- 
man, became Governor of Kassau. He restored order, punished or drove out 
the buccaneers and made the place a respectable one in which to live. He was 
supported with forces sufficient to establish his control, and with funds to make 
fortifications for security against invaders. The Colony prospered from this 
time, attracting numerous settlers, among whom was a company of German 
Protestants from the Palatinate. More extensive fortifications were undertaken 
in 1738 under the direction of Peter Henry Bruce, of the engineer corps of 
the Royal Navy. He has left an interesting account of his work here in his 
memoirs.^ 

'Northcroft, Sketches of Summerland, pp. 274-282. 
° Memoirs of Peter Henry Bruce. 



424 HISTOEY 

In 1775, Commodore Hopkins, of the new American navy, captured Nas- 
sau, evidently expecting to secure possession of the stores of powder deposited 
there. Failing in this, owing to the vigilance of the Governor, he sailed away 
a few days later taking the Governor and a few others as prisoners of war. 
Only a small force of defenders remained throughout the remainder of the 
American Eevolution. 

In 1781 the Spaniards appeared at Kassau again, defeated the British, 
and kept a large garrison there for nearly two years. After the conclu- 
sion of the treaty of peace between Great Britain and Spain in 1782, 
but before it had been announced in the Southern States, an expedition 
organized by Loyalists from the Carolinas and Florida took Nassau from the 
Spaniards. This expedition was undertaken as a private enterprise by Major 
Andrew Deveaux and Captain Daniel Wheeler. A few recruits had been 
picked up at Harbor Island and several vessels that were met on the way 
joined with the party. By this small party, of not more than 225 men, the 
Spanish Governor was taken by surprise and induced to surrender a force 
nearly three times its size. Deveaux took possession with a garrison of fifty 
men and sent part of the Spaniards to Havana. 

Upon the separation of the Thirteen Colonies on the continent from Great 
Britain many of their inhabitants preferred to remain British subjects rather 
than become citizens of the States. The unpleasantness of their situation 
among the successful revolutionists was increased by the bitterness of the latter 
toward them. For these and other reasons many emigrated from the States 
to territory that still remained British. This exodus was encouraged by the 
favorable conditions offered to those who wished to settle in the Bahamas. Ves- 
sels were also provided by the Crown to bring to the Colony all who desired to 
leave the Southern States for British territory. On September 10, 1784, in- 
structions were issued to Lieutenant-Governor Powell to grant unoccupied 
lands in the Bahamas as follows : To every head of a family forty acres, 
and to every white or black man, woman or child in a family, twenty acres, 
at an annual quit rent of 2s. per hundred acres. But in the case of the 
Loyalist refugees from the continent such lands were to be delivered free of 
charges, and were to be exempted from the burden of the quit rents for ten 
years from the date of making the grants. At about this time Governor Patrick 
Tonyn of east Florida gave public notice in that province that the last vessel 
transport would leave the port of St. Marys, Florida, on March 1, 1785. He 
advised all persons of English blood to leave Florida for the Bahamas before 
the Spanish Governor took possession. 



' THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 425 

It was not, however, without regret that some of the Loyalists left the 
continent. Fears were expressed that the Islands were not as productive as 
they were represented to be. It was a choice between the evils and dangers of 
living under Spanish rule and going to a colony whose resources were doubtful. 
Many, however, chose the latter, and came over, bringing with them their 
slaves. The Avhite population of the Bahamas was doubled by these immi- 
grants, and the negro population was nearly trebled. Many of the new- 
comers were cotton planters. These set to work at once with their slaves 
clearing lands and. planting crops, and soon brought the Colony to some im- 
portance as a producer of cotton. 

On the part of the older native inhabitants of the Colony there was a 
prejudice against the unfortunate exiles. Governor Maxwell was not above 
sharing in these feelings, and yielding to them in his official conduct. He 
was therefore dislilced by the refugees. Upon his departure from Nassau an 
address of regret at his leaving was presented to him. It was alleged that the 
Loyalists acquiesced in the sentiments expressed in it. The spokesman of the 
latter, however, disavowed any connection with the address, and this denial 
was approved by a meeting of the Loyalists. They found abuses existing both 
in the laws themselves and in the administration of them. Some of the stat- 
utes, they said, were repugnant to the laws of the mother country. They 
accused the Governor of attempting to deny to them the right of trial by jury, 
a right which they considered as belonging to every Englishman in any British 
territory. They also accused the Governor of further oppressive and tyran- 
nical conduct towards them. They demanded reforms, and claimed to have 
effected a reform in the administration of justice. The legislature was under 
the control of the native inhabitants. The election of 1'785 had occurred 
before the Loyalists had begun to assert their power and they were in the 
minority in the House of Assembly. The Lieutenant-Governor, being un- 
favorable to the cause of the Loyalists, would not dismiss the Assembly and 
call another. Therefore the desired reforms could not be brought abovit. 
Several members of the House who were favorable to the refugees withdrew 
from the House rather than acquiesce in such conduct as that in which it in- 
dulged. The House required the attendance of some of them, and when they 
still persisted in their refusal to sit in it they were declared incapacitated for 
holding seats in that body. 

When John, Earl of Dunmore, became Governor in the latter part of the 
year 1786, he too came under the influence of the same party that had sup- 



426 HISTORY 

ported Governor Maxwell, and did not respond favorably to the appeals of 
the Lo3'alists, who had now become the stronger party in the Colony. There 
was a general desire that the Assembly should be dissolved and a new one 
called. Petitions asking for this came to the new Governor from ISTew Provi- 
dence, Exuma, Abaco and Cat Island. In 1785 a like petition from the 
Loyalists was read in the House of Assembly. That body immediately or- 
dered the document to be burned by the common hangman before the door 
of the House, as the majority of the existing Assembly was favorable to the 
policy of the Governor. The latter listened to the petitions of the Loyalists, 
deliberately considered them and replied that he did not consider it expedient 
to dissolve the Assembly. He persisted in his refusal and at the close of his 
administration the Assembly called in 1785 had' endured almost nine years. 
After the departure of Dunmore from the government an act passed the 
legislature limiting the duration of a legislature to seven' years, in order to 
obviate such a difficulty as that which the Earl of Dunmore had brought upon 
the Colony. 

In 1787 the Lords Proprietors of the Bahamas surrendered their title to 
the lands of the Bahamas to the Crown on the payment of £2000 to each of 
them. The granting of lands and the collection of the quit rents became 
rights of the Crown. The quit rents were poorly collected at this time, and 
after the close of the eighteenth century they fell still further into arrears. 

Although the Colony was prosperous for a number of years owing to the 
great stimulus given to it by the new immigrants, this prosperity was not 
destined to be permanent. The soil, which at best was thin, was exhausted of 
its strength by the middle of the first decade of the nineteenth century. Its 
value decreased, and with it passed away a great part of the value of the 
slaves that had been employed upon it. Some of the planters now emigrated 
with their slaves before the prohibition was laid on the exportation of slaves 
from British colonies. The restrictions on the holding and working of slaves 
were gradually tightened. Attempts were made to secure the right to emi- 
grate with them, but no relaxation in these restrictions occurred. The inter- 
est of Bahama slaveholders had thus to suffer owing to the necessity of enforc- 
ing a uniform system of regulations against the slave-trade. 

With this brief notice of the early history of the Colony we will now turn 
our attention to a more minute study of the conditions which brought such 
hardships to the slaveholders of the Bahamas. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 427 

AMELIORATION OF THE CONDITION OF THE SLAVES. 

Abolition of the Slave-Trade. 

In all of the West Indian colonies of Great Britain the slaves gradually 
increased until thej^ composed the greater part of the population. Early in 
the history of each it had been discovered that the employment of slave labor 
was projfitable, owing to the favoring conditions of soil and climate. The 
enterprising English merchants of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
realized this^ and also saAv the opportunity of making great gains by supplying 
the settlements and plantations with the much-needed labor. The slave- 
trade, which began to meet this demand, grew to great proportions until it 
reached its height in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The trade in 
its mildest form was a barbarous illustration of man's inhumanity to man; 
nevertheless it was fostered under various guises by royal courts, and in 
addition to the lucrative returns to both trader and planter, the alleged im- 
provement in the condition of its victims was put forward in its justification. 
The scenes where it was carried on were far removed from the mass of the 
English people, and the actual conditions imder which it flourished were not 
well known outside of a very limited circle, until late in the eighteenth cen- 
tur}^, when the inquiring minds of the reformers began to investigate this 
trade as one thing that demanded their attention. Agitation against the 
slave-trade was begun and kept up, gradual accessions being made to the ranks 
of the reformers, until at the close of the Napoleonic period the Avhole world 
began to feel the influence of their labors in behalf of the negro. Public men 
of weight and influence were numbered among the enemies of the trade, and 
their demands for reform could be heard in the Cabinet, in the Houses of 
Parliament and throughout the country. For the British Empire the slave- 
trade had been abolished in the year 1807. Attempts had been made to make 
that abolition effective, but great difficulties had to be met and overcome. 
Nearly all the rest of Europe and the Americas were engaged in the enterprise 
and, besides, many Englishmen dared allow their capital to be used in it. 
The agitation of the reform party grew in importance with the passing of 
the years, the leaders gained increased audience among all classes, and the 
feeling against the now illegal traffic rose to a high pitch. Perhaps the most 
active agency in spreading the reform was the African Institution which 
worked in London, and which came into especial prominence in the years 
1814-1815. This society had in view the amelioration of •the condition of the 



428 HISTOEY 

slaves in the British possessions^ and the doing away with the slave-trade. 
Although it became the object of the hatred and of the anathemas of slave 
owners in the colonies, yet it bore an important part in the proscription of the 
slave-trade, as well as in the improvement of the condition of the slaves 
already in the colonies. 

Having met with success in the British Empire it was necessary for the 
reformers, supported by the sympathies of the English people, to strike at the 
same evil in other countries in order to make effective the abolition within 
their own possessions. They went about their task in a masterful way and 
before many years success attended their efforts. Treaties were formed with 
the other European nations to put down the trade on the high seas, and 
attempts were made to get each nation to proscribe it within the territories 
and waters which it controlled. A nominal abolition of it was secured, but 
some of the nations, as Spain and Portugal, Avere backward in strictly enforcing 
the regulations made to destroy it within their own dominions. 

Eegistratioist of the Slaves. 

The effective means by which it was hoped to finally stamp out the slave- 
trade in the British colonies was the periodical registration of the slaves 
already in their limits. In this respect, as in its whole program in the interest 
of the slaves, the British Ministry, now dominated by the party of reform, 
strove to set an example which the rest of Europe might imitate. Great 
Britain had led in proscribing the commerce in slaves, she must also lead in 
giving effect to the abolition of the system. Eegistration was first urged in the 
imperial Parliament by Mr. Wilberforce and Lord Brougham, as a measiire 
that should be passed, and applied at once in order to forcibly exclude the 
importation of slaves into the colonies by imperial regulations." West Indian 
planters and slave owners residing in the mother country were on the alert 
immediately, calling upon those who supported their interests in Parliament 
to obstruct such legislation by every means in their power. Eumors of the 
proposals made to Parliament reached the colonies, where the feeling against 
such action was unanimous on the part of the white population. Whatever 
steps might be taken in the mother country to prevent the passing of such a 
bill were sure to have their approval. The West Indian merchants and plant- 

° Ann. Reg., 1810, p. 145; 1815, p. 28 and pp. 87-88; 1817, p. 94. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 429 

ers in the city of Bristol presented a petition in 1816 depi-ecating the inter- 
ference with the local institutions in the colonies/ In the Bahamas the tidings 
of the activity of the opponents of slavery and the slave-trade seemed to be 
unknown, or at least unnoticed, until the year 1815, when, on the return of 
some inhabitants of the Colony from London, information of the movement 
was brought to them. Two publications of the African Institution, one 
"A Plan for the Preve^vtion of the Unlawful Importation of Slaves," the other 
a pamphlet entitled "Reasons for EstahUshing a Eegistnj of Slaves," were laid 
before the local Assembly." Wild misapprehensions at once beset the mem- 
bers of the House of Assembly. Almost total ignorance of the intentions and 
methods of the African Institution, or as to what Parliament might do, pre- 
vailed. It was only known that something was proposed to be done for the 
regulation of their slave property; it might be an}i;hing. In this state of 
mind the Assembly met in the summer of 1815. Dissatisfaction was expressed 
by some of the members at the failure of the Colonial Agent, George Chalmers, ' 
to keep their commissioners of correspondence informed of the progress of 
this dangerous movement. Believing that a total destruction of the slave 
property of the British West Indian colonies had been determined upon, re- 
gardless of the rights and interests of those concerned, the House decided 
upon an appeal to Parliament.' A committee set to work to inform the House 
of the progress of the movement for registration. It described the African 
Institution as a society "having no connection with, or interest in, the colo- 
nies, and ignorant of the conditions in the colonies, and of their local interests 
and usages," which had " put on foot ruinous schemes, and proposed colonial 
degradation and injiiry on a comprehensive scale." In behalf of the Bahamas, 
the committee denied the existence in them of the evils of which the reform 
party complained ; denied that registration could remedy such evils if they did 
exist; and expressed their conviction that, according to English law, their 
" venerable charter of privileges " was to protect them from any such inter- 
ference from outside the Colony." The whole report is taken up with an 
arraignment of the abolitionists and a refutation of fancied arguments in 
favor of the registration. The presentation of it was followed closely by a set 
of resolutions on the rights of colonial Englishmen, which, together with the 

'Log. cit., 1816, pp. 87-88. 
^H. v., 1815, p. 105. 
«H. v., 1815, p. 45. 
^"Loc. cit., pp. 105, 106. 



430 HISTORY 

report;, was forwarded to the Colonial Department at London to form the first 
part of the protest of this Colony against the registration system." 

Debates in Parliament. 

On the floors of the English Parliament the registration question called 
forth serious debate. On the one hand, Wilberforce pressed the matter with- 
out questioning, in his own mind, the right of Parliament to take action, or the 
expediency of acting at once to suppress the trade; on the other hand, Lord 
Castlereagh suggested that it would be well to ask the cooperation of the 
colonial legislatures in excluding the slave-trade from the British possessions, 
stating that " nothing short of absolute necessity should urge the assertion of 
the right of Parliament to legislate for the colonies, and especially on a meas- 
ure that would subject them to a tax without their own consent.'' " There was 
no change in the view of the leading spirits in the movement as to the poAver 
of Parliament to go ahead and make regulations as demanded by the extreme 
members, but the milder counsels prevailed so far as to determine the Commons 
not to act at once. The experience of the year that had just passed was sufficient 
to prove the folly of attempting to compel the slaveholding colonies to 
accept imperial regulation of so vital an institution as slavery. Parliament 
decided to defer in the matter to the colonial legislatures, each to act for the 
colony under its jurisdiction. The principles on which this legislation was 
to be based were to be laid down by the home government, and sent to the 
colonies as recommendations for the laws they were expected to pass.^^ These 
recommendations were at first mere outlines of the principal points on which 
it was desirable to obtain action from the legislatures; in time they grew to 
greater proportions and the program developed with the experience of the 
Ministry in dealing with the question, until finally they were brought to the 
necessity of sending out for the legislature exact detailed models of the 
statutes which the latter was expected to pass. Here began a struggle between 
the local governments of the colonies, supported by the Ministry and the moral 
influence of Parliament, on the one hand, and the local legislatures on the 

^^ Log. cit., p. 164. A request to the Colonial Agent was to accompany these 
rlocuments, to the effect that he should circulate them as a refutation of the charges 
that had been made against the West Indian slaveholders. The report stated that 
the Bahama people would resist to the point of emigration rather than submit to 
any such regulation by the home government. 

'"Ann. Reg., 1816, pp. 87-89. 

"H. v., 1816, pp. 12-16. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 431 

other, which in the Bahamas continued for nearly fifteen years. At first the 
principal emphasis was laid on the need of registration^, and within a few 
years a satisfactory registration system was secured in this Colony. The 
greater controversy, however, was over the remainder of the program of amel- 
ioration, a matter of much greater importance to the Bahamas, and it was 
not finally settled until the abolition of slavery by the imperial Parliament 
in the year 1833." 

Now that the duty of laying the question of a reformation of the colonial 
institution of slavery before the colonial legislatures devolved upon the Cab- 
inet it was taken up at once, and recommendations were pressed upon the 
attention of these bodies. In the Bahamas the Colonial Department found an 
instrument to do its bidding in the Governor, Charles Cameron. Drawing 
from the instructions sent to him, he urged upon the legislature, with skil- 
fully presented arguments, the consideration of, and action upon, measures 
for the exclusion of the commerce in slaves, and for general amelioration.'' In 
the first place it was necessary to clear away the unfounded misapprehensions 
of the colonists as to the intentions of the leaders in the movement in the 
mother country, and especially as to the African Institution, in which the 
colonists could see every form of evil intention towards the colonies. The 
welcome intelligence that the manumission of the slaves was not intended by 
the authorities, was distinctly set before the legislature." It was admitted 
that the character of the West Indian slaveholders and planters had been 
grossly misrepresented, but it was urged that the colonies now had a most favor- 
able opportunity to redeem their bad reputation; that the intention of the 
King and the Ministry was to enforce the acts and treaties for abolishing the 
slave-trade, and that a refusal on their part would only serve to confirm the 
suspicions of their bad character.''' It was also represented that the deter- 
mination of the home government to permit local legislation in each colony 
for itself was a great concession and the legislatures ought to act the more 
cheerfully, since the legislation was to be by voluntary action of the colonies.'^ 
But the strongest reason for pressing these measures on this particular Colony 

" In general the references on this last point are the despatches of the Gov- 
ernors and the Secretaries of State, the House Votes, Council Votes, and the local 
newspapers for the period 1815-1833. 

^=H. v., 1816, pp. 27, 28. 

^"H. v., 1816, pp. 12-16. 

^' Loc. cit., pp. 12-16. 

^^Loc. cit., pp. 12-16. 



432 HISTOET 

was that it was necessary to inckide it in a general registration system for all 
the West Indian colonies of Great Britain. These colonies were not allowed 
to trade with the colonies of foreign nations, although they could trade among 
themselves, and if any one of them, as the Bahamas, were left out of the 
registration system it might become an entrepot for traffic in slaves, and thus 
the whole of the British West Indian colonies could obtain a constant supply. 
This was the final and conclusive reason for the inclusion of the Bahamas in 
the general system of registration in the British colonies.^' 

Pkotest of the Bahamas. 

On the part of the Colony there was no lack of arguments against the 
imposition of such a vexatious system. The legislature began with a com- 
plete denial of the existence, in the Bahamas, of the evils which the registration 
system was calculated to remedy, and easily came to the conclusion that there 
was no necessity for the registration of their slaves.'" It was ascertained that 
the price of slaves had been greater in Cuba and Jamaica than in the Bahamas 
since the year 1810, thus showing the "absurdity" of registering Bahama 
slaves to prevent the importation of fresh recruits to the slave population of 
this Colony .^^ The value of slaves in this Colony had depreciated during the 
several years previous to this agitation." The Assembly declared, however, 
that even if the evils complained of had existed, such a system as the pro- 
posed registration would not be sufficient to put a stop to it.^ It was also 
argued that it would entail a great expense on the Colony by an unnecessary 
addition to the civil establishment ; ^ that the measures Parliament had already 
taken for the suppression of the slave-trade were sufficient to put it down 
without the necessity of any action on the part of the Colony."" Finally the 
members of the House found themselves so firmly convinced of the inexpe- 
diency of the measure that they resolved not to become " the arbiters of the 
ruin of the Bahamas," and refused to act at all.^" To the Governor, the House 

^^H. v., 1816, p. 27, portion of a letter from a member of the African Institu- 
tion which the Governor laid before the Assembly. 

=»H. v., 1815, pp. 105, 106, and app., pp. 46, 47; 1816, pp. 101-103. 

=^H. v., 1816, pp. 83-101. 

-^ Loc. cit., 1815, app., pp. 46, 47. 

^ Loc. cit, 1815, pp. 105, 106. 

^ Loc. cit. The item of expense without a return to the treasury of the Colony 
was sufficient to condemn any measure in this body. 

"^ H. v., 1816, p. 103. 

=^H. v., 1816, pp. 117, 118. Address of the House to Governor Cameron. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 433 

freely expressed the slaveholders' opinion of the anti-slavery party in the 
mother country. After an exhaustive argument of the whole question to him 
they continued as follows : " With all due respect to Your Excellency's mes- 
sage, this Colony has already felt too deeply the baneful effect of the abolition 
influence in various ways not to regard with additional dread every new approach 
of that party to the pestilential dominion they are laboring to establish over 
the whole West Indies. Being persuaded that that party has visionary objects 
the House must declare that it will not be the arbiter of the ruin of the 
Bahamas." 

The Wtlly Affaie. 

This was the state of affairs and of opinion in the Colony, when an inci- 
dent occurred which aroused such an excited state of feeling, involving the 
legislature and the whole local government in such difficulties that the pos- 
sibility of legislation on the important matter of registration of the slaves 
was precluded for a term of four years. 

In the year 1809 a female domestic slave, named Sue, was brought to 
Nassau from the State of Georgia. She was kept at Nassau until 1816. In 
the latter year her master came to Nassau, accompanied by a male slave, named 
Sandy, and attempted on his return to take the two slaves, together with an 
infant child of the former, back to Georgia with him.^^ The slaves absconded, 
were seized and imprisoned to await the day of their owner's departure. At- 
torney-General Wylly seized upon them, and prosecuted them on the ground of 
unlawful importation. Sandy and the child were restored to their owner, but 
Sue was condemned on an allegation that she had been offered for sale.^ 

The local House of Assembly, with its accustomed diligence in taking 
account of everything in connection with the government of the Colony, ob- 
jected to the conduct of the Attorney-General.'" It appeared that the Attorne}^- 
General had given a written opinion that, under the imperial statute of the 
year 1806 regarding the removal of slaves from any part of the British do- 
minions, slaves brought into the Colony might be sold there, or freely taken 
away, according to the will of the owner. His new opinion, involving the use 
of license and bond for removals under the same act, was odious to the mem- 
bers of the House.^" A report gained currency that the Attorney-General 

" H. v., 1816-17, p. 143. 
"^ Log. cit. 
'» Log. cit., p. 153. 
'" H. v., 1816-17, pp. 153-156. 
28 



434 HISTORY 

had been in communication with the African Institution in London, and was 
keeping that hated society informed as to the attitude of the Colony toward the 
Eegistration Measures/' The House determined to investigate the conduct of 
this official. When he was asked to appear before a House Committee he 
answered in terms that to the House seemed contemptuous. His arrest was 
ordered by a vote of the House — ^he should answer for his contempt of its 
summons and his misrepresentation of the proceedings of the House in the 
last session.^"^ The House messenger reported a fruitless search for the person 
of the Attorney ; and further that he had been resisted by armed slaves on the 
premises of the latter.^^ This was unbearable. Such " repeated and daring- 
contempt/^ such a dreadful example to slaves to arm themselves in defiance 
of authority, decided the House at once on the downfall of the man who had 
dared to oppose its wishes. The Governor was asked to suspend him from 
office without delay. He was arrested and imprisoned, but within an hour 
thereafter he was delivered from the gaol by the order of the Chief Justice.^ 
The House grew violent, and attacked the court for what it regarded as 
" highly unconstitutional, illegal, and unprecedented action " in releasing the 
prisoner. Again it ordered the arrest of the released prisoner.^" At this point 
the Governor interfered with a proclamation dissolving the House.^° In this 
course the Governor was supported by the home government.^^ 

Three days after the dissolution of the House a public meeting was held 
at Nassau on January 31, 1817, which expressed unanimous approval of the 
action of the House. Eesolutions were drawn up and adopted sanctioning the 
commitment of the Attorney-General, disapproving the conduct of the General 
Court, declaring that conduct unconstitutional and subversive of the rights of 
British subjects, further that it tended to the degradation of the House of 
Assembly from its unquestionable position of authority, and claimed for it 
the same position in the Colony that the House of Commons held in the mother 
country, therefore the superior of all courts. Apprehension of grave conse- 
quences, on account of the untimely dissolution of the House, pervaded these 

^^Loc. cit., p. 157. 

'^H. v., 1816-17, p. 161. See also denial of Attorney-General in the Royal 
Gazette for Feb. 8, 1817. 
^Loc. cit., p. 167. 
" Loc. cit., p. 177. 
^^ Log. cit. 
'" Loc. cit., p. 178. 
^'H. v., 1817, p. 17. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 435 

resolutions. People feared an uprising of the slaves, and there was such ex- 
citement that few local men could have spoken calmly of the situation. ^^ 

The next meeting of the local Assembly occurred in September of 1817. 
In the interval the people and the representatives, whom they had returned 
to the new Assembly, had not forgotten their grievances. It could scarcely 
have been expected that this body would have proceeded to business without 
any reference to the difficulties of the preceding winter; still it was hoped that 
an interval would serve to bring about a calmer state of feeling. But the new 
House was of no better disposition than the old one had been. After learning 
from the Governor that the home government had disapproved their un- 
authorized assumption of the power of imprisonment,^" they adopted the same 
line of conduct that their predecessors had followed. The membership of 
this House was almost the same as that of the former, and their opinions had 
not altered a jot. Absolute supremacy within the Colony was their claim; 
they held that they were the sole judges of their own privileges,^" and still con- 
fidently expected to be justified by the Prince Eegent. They persisted in their 
endeavors to humble the Attorney- General, but Avithout avail. Bills were 
ordered reversing the judgments in the Wylly case; " but the very same official 
personages, against whose action these measures were directed, also held seats 
in the Council which had a share in legislating. As judges of their own cause, 
they naturally threw out these bills."^ The Provost Marshal who had assisted 
in the arrest of the Attorney-General was arraigned before the bar of the House 
to make an apology for his conduct in that affair which he had made public.^^ 
A bill for the registration of the slaves was passed, but it was intentionally 
framed so that neither the Council, Governor, nor home government would accept 
it.^* Not least of these attempts to shift to the Council the responsibility for 
the lack of legislation was the passage of an appropriation bill omitting pro- 
vision for the salaries of the Attorney-General and the Justices of the General 
Court." They resolved not to pass any legislation at all, except for the pur- 
pose of preserving the public credit, and for the reestablishment of their own 

'^ Royal Gazette, IV (1817), No. 337. 
^« H. v., 1817, pp. 17-18. 
"^Loc. cit., p. 20. 
*^Loc. cit., pp. 34-36. 
^^Loc. cit., p. 109. 
'^ hoc. cit., p. 38. 
" H. v., 1817, p. 109. 

"H, v., 1817, p. 128, address to the Prince Regent. The salaries of these 
officials were rarely granted for longer than one year. 



436 HISTORY 

privileges, until the several judgments of the General Court and its orders 
should have been so effectively annulled as no longer to have the authority of 
a legal precedent.*" The Governor was at last informed that if he did not feel 
authorized to relieve their embarrassing situation, the House would do nothing 
further during the session than to formulate an address to the Prince Eegent 
for a redress of their grievances/^ Kothing further was attempted. A few 
days later a prorogation was proclaimed. Time would now be given for 
excited feelings to become quieted. Throughout another session the House of 
Assembly had adhered to its determination to outwit every other authority in 
the Colony. 

Before another session of the Assembly occurred Governor Charles Cam- 
eron had been removed from the government of the Bahamas. He was suc- 
ceeded in the temporary administration of the Colony by Chief Justice Mun- 
nings, who was President of the Council. He was the same official against 
whom the same House had acted so violently during its last session.*^ His 
position as temporary administrator did not make for peace with the House. 
The members of that body were sadly disappointed that a favorable response to 
their claim was not communicated from the home government. On the other 
hand, they were informed that the Prince Eegent had instructed the Secretary 
of State to communicate to the Bahama House of Assembly that he fully 
approved of the conduct of the General Court in issuing the writ of habeas 
corpus on behalf of the unfortunate Attorney- General, for a recommitment 
would have meant that the original imprisonment had been according to law.*^ 
The House on its part spent a great part of this session in committee of 
the whole discussing the matter, in order to ascertain the best means of 
securing a redress of its grievances. It was unyielding in its attitude towards 
those who had offended against it,°° and was still determined to refuse to act 
on the affairs of the Colony until its assumed privileges were secured to it. 
Instead of proceeding to business it passed another set of resolutions reviewing 
the difficulties, and voted to have the Attorne}^- General brought before it on 
the 14th of July.^^ When it met on that day it was at once summoned to the 

^' hoc. cit., pp. 34-36. 

" hoc. cit., p. 116. 

^^ It might be questioned whether those meetings were a " session " of the legis- 
lature. Some authority has said that there must have been some business done in 
order to entitle the meetings of the Assembly to the name of a " session." 

" H. v., 1818, p. 5. 

^^ hoc. cit., pp. 9-10. 

" H. v., 1818, p. 20. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 437 

Council chamber to meet the President of the Council, He upbraided the 
members of the House for their opprobrious conduct, warned them that he 
could not suffer them to oppress an individual any longer, and prorogued them, 
soon to follow up this with a dissolution.'^ 

Another fruitless attempt to harmonize the branches of the government 
was made in March of the following year, on the meeting of the new House 
whose election had occurred meantime. It was found that this body also was 
as little disposed to compromise as either of the two that had sat before it. 
The same results were met with. But there was an additional grievance at 
this time, in that members of the House of Assembly had been summoned for 
service on juries. The House claimed for its members exemption from jury 
service. If the claim was well grounded, this was a breach of the privileges of 
its members.^^ A prorogation followed. 

The " Healing Act." 

Before another meeting of the legislature took place there was a for- 
tunate change in the Executive of the Colony. Major-General Lewis Grant 
had been sent out as Governor of the Bahamas. The opportu.nity of the new 
Governor, who had had no part in the struggles of the preceding years, to act 
the part of mediator, was taken advantage of with the happy result of a resto- 
ration of the accustomed quiet to the community. The session had only 
opened, however, when the House rehearsed the whole matter in an address to 
the new Governor."" Some of the members of the House suspected, when they 
did not receive the desired response from the Prince Kegent, that their ad- 
dresses had never been laid before him at all. To them the new Governor re- 
plied firmly that the home government had no intention of granting that the 
House was in the right in its determination that the General Court, the Council, 
and the Attorney-General should bow to its will ; '' further, that there was no 
change in the views of those who had made the former assurances to the House. 
The Governor had been instructed that it Avas not necessary to require of the 
House any acknowledgment that it had acted in an unconstitutional manner in 
its conduct towards the other branches of the government. He desired to pass 
over the whole difficulty, to allow it to drop out of notice, and to proceed to 

^^Loc. cit., pp. 33-35. 
=5 H. v., 1819, p. 36. 
=*H. v., 1820, pp. 26, 27. 
==H. v., 1820, p. 26. 



438 HISTOKY 

business withoiit any further reference to it.^° lie assured the House that if it 
desired to pass a bill embodying the sentiments which he had expressed, he 
would have no hesitation in giving his assent to it." Accordingly the House 
passed a bill, which became the first act of the Bahama Legislature in the reign 
of the new Sovereign, declaring that neither the arrest of the Attorney-General 
under the warrant of the Speaker of the House, nor the bailments of the General 
Court setting him at liberty, should be taken to have the authority of legal pre- 
cedent, or to extend, or diminish, the rights and privileges of the House of 
Assembly, or of the General Court/'^ 

But the House was not yet satisfied. This " Healing Act,'' as it has been 
called, was passed only by the casting vote of the Speaker of this unconquer- 
able body. Assurance that they had made no concessions must be made doubly 
sure. By a vote of 17 to 8 the following resolution was passed: " The House 
cannot consistently with its dignity, and never will, gTant salaries to said 
persons (William Wylly and the Justices of the General Court), or any of 
them, either for past services since the commencement of the aforesaid dis- 
putes, or for any future services." °° By a vote of 22 to 2 it was resolved that 
the House would still claim the right to imprison whomsoever it chose for the 
breach of the privileges of its members, and that it should remain the judge 
of those privileges. It also reasserted its .claim to superiority to the courts.^" 
On account of the persistently violent attitude of the House in all these matters, 

'-'^ H. v., 1820, p. 28. Address of the Governor in reply to the message of the 
House. The Governor said: " I am authorized to state that under all the various 
circumstances attending the arrest and commitment of a certain public character, 
while His Majesty, on the one hand, cannot sanction by a direct admission of 
legality the proceedings against that individual. His Majesty, on the other hand, 
does not require any acknowledgment from the Assembly that they have advanced 
any novel or unconstitutional pretensions." 

=' Loc. cit. 

^* 1 Geo. IV, 1. This statute is retained on the statute books of the Colony to 
the present day. It declares in express terms that there has been no acknowledg- 
ment that the House had advanced any novel or unconstitutional principles. The 
citation to 1 Geo. IV, 1 refers to the statutes of the Bahamas. Thus all" citations of 
statutes will refer to the Bahama statutes unless otherwise noted. 

=»H. v., 1820, p. 36. The original motion in this matter was to the effect that 
the House ought not to be deemed to be pledged to grant these salaries after the 
passage of the " Healing Act." As that was not strong enough to express their 
feeling it was changed. 

'^ Loc. cit., p. 38. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 439 

the Grovernor determined at once upon a dissolution of it." The matter was 
hushed up finally with the termination of this session of the legislature, 
except for a proposal in the spring of 1821 to the effect that conciliation would 
not compromise the dignity of the House. The change for the better in the 
feeling of the House is shown in the failure of this motion. There was almost 
a two-thirds majority against it.°^ 

Adoption of the Eegistration System. 
The four years spent by the House of Assembly in its persecution of the 
other departments of the local government had meant four years delay in 
the establishment of the system of registration for the slaves. During the 
struggle a bill had been passed, which, however, did not meet the approval of 
the home government.*^ It did not provide for the forfeiture of non-regis- 
tered slaves, nor did it provide for an accurate description of the slaves such 
that they could be identified, as was desirable to the British Ministry." Other 
minor objections were laid before the Assembly with an urgent recommenda- 
tion that an improved bill be passed. The Bahamas had always prided them- 
selves on their loyalty to the British Crown. In his appeal to the House to 
pass a suitable bill for registration. Governor Grant urged that they should 
not pass a bill that would have to be disallowed, thus appearing to justify the 
imputation against them that the Bahamas were disregarding the wishes of 
the King.'"' The House finally yielded and passed a bill, granting certain of 
the more important points that had been urged in the recommendations. It 
provided sufficient regulations for the removal of slaves from one colony to 
another. But there were defects in other parts that called for supplementary 
legislation to make the registration system satisfactory to those who were de- 
manding it.^° Although important concessions were made in this, for the sake 

^^ hoc. cit., p. 41. This session had begun about the middle of the month of 
November. The prorogation took place on November 30. The Assembly was pro- 
rogued to December 15, but on December 6 a proclamation of dissolution was 
issued. 

^'^H. v., 1821, p. 22. 

^ H. v., 1821, p. 38. This bill when it was passed by the House of Assembly 
was not regarded Q,ven by the membership of the House as one which would suit the 
" visionary speculations of the dangerous party at home." Loc. cit., 1817, p. 109. 

«*H. v., 1821, p. 38, despatch of the Secretary of State detailing objections to 
the House bill. 

«= H. v., 1821, p. 38. 

"''H. v., 1822, pp. 65-66. 



440 HISTORY 

of compliance with the recommendations of the Ministry, still there were 
legitimate objections to the imposition of this regulation upon the Bahamas, if 
the interests of this Colony alone were to be considered. Eegistration, as has 
been stated, was designed to work towards the suppression of the slave-trade. 
The foreign slave-trade had not been carried on in the Bahamas since about 
the year 1810, or perhaps before the British Parliament had abolished the 
slave-trade in British territory." Crop failures, and the uncertainty as to the 
tenure of the lands which they held, were additional reasons for apprehension 
on the part of the Bahama slaveholders. Furthermore, the expense that 
would inevitably attend such an establishment in this Colony would be out of 
all proportion to the benefits to be derived from it. The slave population, 
here numbering 10,808, according to the registration of 1822, was distributed 
over seventeen islands and groups of islands, which extended over a distance 
of 600 miles of ocean. Most of the other West Indian colonies consisted each 
of a single island, or compact group of islands. No other colony formed such 
a chain as the Bahamas. Easy access to the seat of government, where the 
registration books were to be kept, was an essential condition to the successful 
operation of the system. Communication between the different islands of this 
government was so infrequ-cnt, and so difficult, as to render it practically im- 
possible for the same system to be applied here as in the other colonies, unless 
by the assumption of an expense which the colonial revenues could not bear. 
Other features of this system were difficult to adapt to this Colony, owing to 
the varied occupations of the slaves. 

Great Britain was taking the lead of the world in giving effect to her abo- 
lition laws. Her West Indian colonies were compelled to submit to the impo- 
sition of this regulation as one measure for this purpose. Not one of them 
could be excepted from it, for no door must be left unclosed by which slaves 
could be brought into the British possessions. The exception of one colony, 
however small, would have served for the introduction of slaves into all the 
colonies at a great profit to the carriers. The plan of the Ministry was to 
recommend to all the colonies the same system, and to insist on its adoption, 
and the enforcement of its regulations, until the introduction of slaves from 
the outside should be entirely cut off. Such a plan would allow no part of the 

" H. v., 1815, app., pp. 46-47. It was claimed by local men in 1815 that the 
depreciation in the value of their slaves had amounted to one-fourth of their total 
value during the first decade of the nineteenth century. In 1825 it was estimated 
that the depreciation had amounted to £500,000 or one-half of the former value of 
this property, hoc. cit., 1825-26, pp. 124, 125. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS Ml 

British Empire to be free from this registration system. The larger interests 
of the Empire demanded that the rules and regulations for the destruction of 
the slave-trade should be enforced in all portions of the domain, even at the 
expense of hardship, suffering and deprivation to a small part of that great 
Empire, even though the particular evils, against which efforts were directed, 
did not prevail there. In this view it was altogether desirable to include this 
Colony. 

Demands op the English Public. 

The demands of the English public did not stop here. This was really 
only the beginning of the great program- that lay before their government. 
They regarded themselves as responsible for the condition of the slaves with 
which their ancestors had supplied the colonists. The British nation was 
responsible for the presence of slaves within British territory, and they 
should now assume the responsibility for the amelioration of the condition of 
those same slaves. But the object was not to ameliorate the condition of the 
slaves, and still leave them slaves. It was intended that by progressive meas- 
ures they should be raised in the moral and social scale, and that they should 
be educated, as far as that could be done, until they were fitted for full enjoy- 
ment of the rights of British citizenship. The matter had been before Parlia- 
ment for a number of years ; it had been investigated by committees of Parlia- 
ment ; it had been discussed inside and outside of that body, and the conviction 
of the necessity of taking action grew firmer as time went on. The experience 
of the first years, in which attempts were made to legislate for this purpose, 
had convinced the authorities at home that the best way to accomplish the 
desired end was to secure voluntary action from the colonial legislatures in the 
enactment of the program of amelioration. As colonial authorities had to be 
employed in the enforcement of the regulations of the slave system, it would 
be best to have those laws imposed by colonial agencies. 

The general outlines of what it was proposed to accomplish were set forth 
in a set of resolutions passed by the House of Commons. It regarded the fol- 
lowing as the principal points in which the greatest improvements could be 
made: (1) The prevention of the flogging of female slaves; (2) effective and 
decisive measures to be taken for the amelioration of the condition of slaves; 
(3) by judicious and temperate perseverance in the enforcement of these meas- 
ures, the House of Commons hoped to secure a progressive improvement in the 
slaves, such as would fit them for participation in the rights and privileges of 
British citizenship; (4) the accomplishment of this purpose at the earliest 



442 HISTORY 

period compatible with a fair consideration for the rights of private property.'" 
Under the second of these heads may be grouped the details of the measures 
that were proposed. The negroes were to be instructed in the principles of 
Christian morality and religion, to be qualified for and given the right to 
testify in the courts of law, to be taught the sacredness of the marriage tie, to 
be secured against the forced neglect of it, to be given every facility in securing 
their own emancipation, to be attached to the soil, to be protected from too 
severe punishments, and to be given facility and encouragement in the accu- 
mulation of property. °° 

Besides maintaining that these reforms Avere'only giving justice to the 
slaves from the humanitarian point of view, the Ministry attempted to point 
out to the colonists that from the point of view of the slave owner's real inter- 
ests these things were also demanded. The state of feeling in the mother coun- 
try, and the solicitude of the people for the slaves, were held out, to the As- 
sembly; and after the refusal of the Bahama House to act compliantly with 

"'H. v., 1823, pp. 35-37. Copy of these resolutions of Parliament. 

™ H. v., 1832, p. 17. The details of the plan are fully set forth in the Order- 
in-council for Trinidad, a copy of which is given in this place. This order was put 
in force in the Crown colonies. It is a document embodying a great many details 
in large volume. The Ministry had at first attempted merely the suggestion of the 
general outlines of what they desired of the Colony in the amelioration of the 
slaves. It was soon found that their suggestions were purposely, and deliberately, 
given a wrong interpretation by the colonial legislature. The latter affected to 
misunderstand the intentions of the home government, holding this in the way as a 
reason why the recommendations should not be enacted into their codes. 

The more important provisions of the Trinidad Order-in-council were as follows: 
A protector of slaves should be appointed to reside at the capital of the Colony, and 
have there an office open at all times to give access to and hear complaints from the 
slaves; the protector was not to be interested in slave property by ownership, man- 
agement or guardianship of the owners of it; he was to keep the records of the 
operations of the system, to attend all trials affecting the lives or property of slaves; 
and in all his functions he was to have the assistance of the Commandant of the 
military forces of the Colony. Sunday markets were to be abolished throughout 
the Colony; slaves were not to be allowed to work between sundown on Saturday 
evening and sunrise on Monday morning. The use of the whip or " cat " as a mark 
of the authority of the slave-driver was to be prohibited; only limited punishments 
were to be allowed to be inflicted each day; the flogging of females was altogether 
done away with; and strict records of punishments inflicted were to be kept on 
each plantation. With the consent of the owner, the Commandant of the Colony 
could issue licenses for the marriage of slaves; husbands and wives were not to be 
separated from each other, nor children under fourteen years of age from their 
parents. Slaves were to enjoy property rights, holding and inheritance, etc. ; savings 
banks were to be established for the security of the property of slaves. The tax 
on manumissions was to be abolished; slaves were to be allowed to purchase their 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 443 

these recommendations/" it was represented that there wonkl be great disap- 
pointment in England if the Colony failed to act as it had been urged to do. 
In 1825 the House of Lords came to the aid of the Ministry by approving its 
conduct." 

When concessions were made by the House of Assembly, full acknowledgment 
was made that there was a disposition on the part of the Colony to improve 
the condition of the slaves." It was represented that whatever improvements 
the local Assembly might -make would be on the initiative of the Colony, and 
ought not in that case to be objectionable to the colonists themselves.'' The 
repeal of objectionable features was as strongly insisted on as was the enact- 
ment of advanced provisions. The colonists pleaded that the custom of the 
community secured to the slaves most of the guarantees for protection on which 
the home government insisted. The Ministry, unwilling to trust to such an 
indefinite response, insisted on a statutory recognition of these alleged beneficent 
customs." In this way alone could it be assured that the slave system was to be 
freed from the abuses which slaveholders themselves admitted to exist. West 
Indian proprietors residing in the mother country were consulted as to the 
practicability of the measures proposed, and the colonists were told that the 
recommendations met with the approval of this class." Finally in pressing 
the matter upon the attention of the Assembly an appeal was made to the feeling 
of gratitude, which the colonists must have felt towards the mother country, 
for the benefits of British rule.'^ 

own freedom, or that of their wives or children; manumissions by private contract 
were to be in writing and made to the protector. Slave evidence was to be admitted 
to the courts in all cases; and ministers of religion were to certify as to the qualifi- 
cations of slaves to be put on oath. Cruelty to a slave was to cause the right of the 
owner to hold the slave to be put at the discretion of the courts; a second conviction 
involved the right of the owner to hold any slave at all; or of the manager of a 
plantation to hold the position of a manager of slaves. In slave trials the burden 
of proof was on the master. The protector was to make an annual report of the 
conduct of his office, the number of cases that came under his jurisdiction, etc. 
H. V. for 1824, pp. 38-70. 

'°H. v., 1824, pp. 36-37; 1825, p. 32, and 1826, p. 2. 

''''Log. cit., 1826, p. 2. 

'-H. v., 1824, pp. 36-37. This was small encouragement to a body of slave 
holders who desired to be excused from acting at all. 

''H. v., 1824, p. 34. 

'*H. v., 1824, pp. 34-35. 

"H. v., 1825, p. 32. 

" Loc. cit. 



444 HISTORY 



Attitude of the Bahamas. 



Against the whole program the colonists brought a great many argu- 
ments — some worthy of attention^ others not. It was objected to these 
measures, just as to the registration, that they were ill-adapted to local con- 
ditions ; " that the advocates of them had never visited the colonies and did 
not know anything about what would be suitable for regulating the institution 
of slavery. As for what they had already conceded, they would consider that 
as no sort of pledge, that they would enact any further measures of the same 
character. Their practicability had first to be demonstrated, and for this 
reason the Bahama House at one time refused to pToceed any further with the 
program. ^^ The Ministry had desired to proceed too rapidly to please the 
colonists. The holders of this property considered it dangerous at any time 
to meddle with the slave institution in a way that would give any little encour- 
agement to the slaves to rise up against the authority of their masters. Insur- 
rections had occurred in some of the larger colonies, and the horrors of the 
insurrections in the neighboring island of San Domingo were still fresh in the 
minds of Bahamians. The Order-in-council gave the right of complaint in 
some matters to the slaves, which would truly have curtailed . the almost 
absolute authority of the masters.^' They pleaded for non-interference with 
their cherished institution. They argued that the existing slaves were the 
progeny of the slave property of their ancestors, who had first settled in the Col- 
ony on condition that the lands should be cultivated by negro slave labor, and 
that those slaves had been guaranteed to the planters by the English law for- 
ever ; that if the English government took any measures that would lessen the 
value of, or tend to loosen their hold on, their slave property, it would be a 
breach of the promise made to the early settlers. They held it unlawful to 
deprive them of their property, or of the value of it, without indemnification. 
If by any act of the home government their slave property were caused to 
depreciate in value, the owners of it ought to be compensated for the whole loss. 
If involuntary labor, as it existed in the colonies, was a crime, it was the crime 
in this instance of the mother country and she ought to bear the penalty of it.^" 

The people of this small island community had never had to bear with 
any considerable interference from the outside. The House of Assembly had 
been allowed to assume control of almost everything in the Colony. The in- 

"H. v., 1824, p. 89. 

"H. v., 1823, p. 71, and 1824, p. 89. 

'"H. v., 1824, pp. 89-95. 

^"H. v., 1825-26, p. 124, resolutions passed on January 24, 1824. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS ■ 445 

habitants had much confidence in their rights as Englishmen, and we have seen 
that they carried their attemjDts at assertion of those rights to the extreme. 
Born and reared in the atmosphere of the institution of slavery, and accus- 
tomed to dealing with it as they pleased, they were averse to any interference 
with it at all, and they could not have been expected to submit without protest 
to such changes, in the order of things, as the British Cabinet proposed to them. 
They had inherited the prejudices which are almost universal, if not inevitable, 
in a state of society in which the interests of one class are subordinated to the 
interests of those above them. While they were willing to care for their 
slaves reasonably, it was difficult for them to acknowledge that any authority 
in the Empire had the right to continue, as the Ministry had been doing, in 
insisting on a line of action so obnoxious to them. Hence they used such 
adjectives as "unwarrantable" and "unprecedented" to brand the conduct 
of the authorities in the home government, and were extremely reluctant to 
act on their recommendations. The depreciation in the value of their slaves 
was used as an argument to prove the baneful effects of the agitation that had 
been carried on in England, the reflection from which had reached the colonies. 
The agitation did have some effect in this way, but the great cause of this 
depreciation was doubtless economic. The prices of slaves had gone down 
because of the worn-out condition of the lands of the Bahama Islands. There 
was no longer the same amount of employment for them that there had been 
at the beginning of the century. 

Adoption of a New Slave Code. 

In 1824 a statute was passed granting part of the reforms upon which the 
home government had insisted. It placed in the slave code some of the things 
which were claimed as the custom of the Colony." At the following session of 
the legislature the House declined to make any further alterations in its 
slave code." The matter was not allowed to rest, however, for the Ministry 
urged more strongly than ever the propriety of taking further action for 
amelioration.^' In 1826 almost all of the recommendations of the home gov- 

"4 Geo. IV, 6. 

^^H. v., 1824, p. 95. 

^^Loc. cit., 1826, pp. 18-28. The Secretary of State sent out a detailed state- 
ment of the whole plan of the desired enactment, the provisions of which he had 
grouped under eight heads. His persistency won with the House in so far that at 
once on the meeting of the legislature in October, 1826, a committee was appointed 
which brought in eight bills embodying what is was thought could be conceded under 
the eight respective headings proposed by the Secretary of State. They were not 
passed in this form however. 



446 HISTORY 

ernment in this matter -were included in some f orm^ in a comprehensive amend- 
ment to the consolidated slave law. It contained practically all that the 
Bahamas ever conceded in the enactment of regulations for the amelioration 
of the condition of their slaves.'"^ A few minor points Avere added in 1829. 

Legal Status op Master and Slave. 

The legal status of slaves in the Bahamas, as defined in the statutes men- 
tioned above, will now be treated under the following heads : I. What the code 
guaranteed to the slave, his rights and duties. II. What it guaranteed to the 
master, his rights and duties. 

Rights and Duties of the Slave. 

Under this head will be considered : Maintenance, right to hold property, 
marriage and family, civic rights, religious instruction, conditions and terms 
of manumission, holidays. 

Maintenance. — The master was required to furnish to each of his slaves 
over ten years of age, one peck of unground corn, or an equivalent, per week. 
For each child under ten years of age, one-half of this allowance would 
sufl&ce. Two suits of " proper and sufficient clothing " were annually fur- 
nished to each slave. In addition to these things the slave was entitled to a 
small quantity of land for his dwelling, and a garden."' The law of 1834 
prohibited the manumission of aged and infirm slaves, but that of 1827 per- 
mitted manumission, and required the master in such instances to maintain 
his freedman until death. 

Right to Hold Property. — Slaves were allowed to hold property. The 
code provided in general that " no slave on account of his condition .... 
shall be deemed incompetent to purchase, hold, alienate or inherit property, 
but shall be competent for the exercise of this right." The Eeceiver-General 
of the Colony was made a depository for money which slaves might wish to 
deposit for safe-keeping. The slave could bequeath such money by means of a 
will made by a simple declaration to that official. The property of a slave 
dying intestate was disposed of according to the laws governing any property 
of the character which he liad left behind. Marriage revoked a will previously 
made. In default of legitimate heirs the reputed issue, and the relatives, of the 
deceased slave could take possession of his property. Lands in the possession 

«' 7 Geo. IV, 1, and cf. 10 Geo. IV, 13. 
^'^ 10 Geo. IV, 13. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 447 

of slaves were considered as personal estate, and were governed by the laws 
regulating the descent of landed property. The property of a slave was attac li- 
able for debt/' 

Marriage and Family. — The Bahama slave code professed to encourage 
legitimate marriages among the slaves of the Colony, and between slaves and 
free blacks. The old custom of the Bahamas doubtless permitted many abuses 
of the marriage tie among slaves, although, later. Admiral Fleming stated that 
promiscuous concubinage was not allowed."' With a view to the religious and 
moral improvement of the slaves, it was attempted to promote the attachment 
of husbands and wives among them, and to prevent, as far as possible, polygamy 
and promiscuity of conjugal relations. The consent of the owner in writing 
or the publication of the banns in the regular manner was necessary before 
marriages were allowed to take place. A marriage between slaves was not 
permitted without the consent of the owners. Such marriages were conducted 
according to the laws and canonical restrictions of the established church of 
the Bahamas. The ministers of that church alone were competent to solemnize 
marriages. If there was no Anglican minister in the parish in which the mar- 
riage took place, the duty devolved upon the justice of the peace. In 1827, 
however, the privilege of celebrating marriages was extended to ministers out- 
side the established churches of England and Scotland, but in each instance 
the Governor issued a special license."^ Eegisters of marriages were kept. Very 
primitive ideas prevailed among these poor people as to the duties conceived 
by Englishmen, to be assumed when entering into the marriage contract. 
Eegulations were made for the purpose of inculcating proper ideas as to the 
mutual obligations of husband and wife, and urging upon them the importance 
of remaining together when once united. The separation of families was for- 
bidden under any circumstances. ISTeither husband or wife was salable unless 
the other was sold at the same time, and to the same purchaser. Children 
were not allowed to be separated from their parents until they had reached 
the fourteenth year. Alienation of slave property could be carried out only 

*« 10 Geo. IV, 13. Neither of the above questions appears to have been touched 
upon in the laws before 1824. Custom in this as in many other respects was 
doubtless very lax. 7 Geo. IV, 1, sees. 36-40. 

*' Sess. P., 1831-32, 20, p. 217. Testimony given in the West Indian Investiga- 
tion of Slavery by Parliament. 

''^ 10 Geo. 13. Several years after the abolition of slavery a difficulty arose at 
Harbor Island over the transfer by a Wesleyan minister to another minister of his 
denomination, of a license issued to him to marry two blacks. 



448 . HISTORY 

in compliance with these regulations. They applied to reputed husbands and 
wives, and to reputed, as well as to legitimate, children.*' 

Civic Rights. — ISTot only were slaves not allowed to vote in the Bahamas, bnt 
it was late in the history of slavery when colored freemen were admitted to the 
exercise of the franchise."" Slaves were not allowed to serve in the local militia. 
Free blacks were also excluded from militia service until 1804. After that 
time there remained prejudicial restrictions on their exercise of that right, 
even until after the abolition of slavery .^^ The restrictions in respect to jury 
service were nearly the same as were those just mentioned in the same period.*^ 
Slave courts were regularly established by the later statutes on slavery, before 
the passage of Avhich they had been institutions of rather bad character. 

By a statute of the year 1805 the General Court was authorized to try 
suits for the freedom of slaves. As that court sat only in the island of iSTew 
Providence, other measures were necessary for trials in the Out-islands. A 
magistrate in an Out-island was empowered to summon three free-holders to 
assist him, on sufficient evidence, and compel a master either to give up his 
claim to a slave, or to pay the expenses of sending the latter to Nassau for 
trial in the General Court.'' All other cases on behalf of slaves, that v»"ere 
allowed to be tried at all, were tried in the lower magisterial courts, and later 
in the slave courts. A slave court was constituted in 1824 consisting of two 
justices and at least five jurors.'^ At their best these slave courts were poor 
instruments for the measuring of justice, according to the standards of English 
jurisprudence. It was difficult for a slave to get his case into court at all, 
especially if it were against some white person. It made little difference what 
were the grounds of his suit, or how serious they were to him, they were likely 
to be ignored. 

The cause of the whole difficulty in this respect, which prevented the 
slave from getting justice, was that slave evidence was not received in 
the courts until almost the close of the period in which slavery existed. 
The question of the removal of this evil involved the reformation of the whole 
course of justice in the Bahamas. Slave e'^ddence was either not received at 

^^ 10 Geo. IV, 13. 
""47 Geo. Ill, 1. 

"^36 Geo. Ill, 4; also Smyth's Ds., No. 140. 
«M4 Geo. Ill, 10. 

^^ 45 Geo. Ill, 20, and 7 Geo. IV, 7. From the state of opinion it is not probable 
that a strict application of this provision occurred in many cases. 
"M Geo. IV, 6. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 449 

all in the courts, or it received so little recognition that, as long as the state of 
things existed, a slave could not secure a hearing before them, if the cause 
were to the prejudice of a white person. It was out of the question for them 
to exercise any control in the courts, and they were allowed little opportunity 
to furnish the evidence they had in cases that came up for adjudication, in 
order that justice might be done. 

In 1784 it was provided that the evidence of slaves should be admitted 
against manumitted persons in all trials for capital or criminal offenses; but 
by the same law only Christian slaves were allowed to testify at all, and they 
only in suits for debt.*' Slave evidence was the first point in which the local 
Assembly attempted to make concessions, in response to the ministerial de- 
mand for the amelioration of the condition of the slaves. But the effort they 
made to remove the restrictions on it would not argue strongly that they were 
convinced of the expediency of granting full credit to the testimony of a 
slave, when put on oath. The traditional prejudice of the whites against the 
admission of the blacks to civil rights is well preserved. After 1823 free per- 
sons of color who had been instructed in the Christian religion, and baptized, 
and who had been free for a term of three years, were admitted to give evi- 
dence in civil cases, the facts regarding which had occurred subsequently to 
the liberation of the person testifying.'' In 1834 this same privilege was 
extended to all persons of color born free in the Bahamas, and to others born 
free outside the Colony, but who had been in the Bahamas for iive years. But 
it was still denied to manumitted persons in cases of treason and felony, and 
offenses against the peace, committed previous to manumission, and in all 
cases, the facts in which occurred previous to the passage of this statute.'^ 
Another change was made in 1839. All slaves, who were not native Africans, 
who had been in the Colony for five years were admitted to testify in civil 
cases, and in criminal trials by indictment, on presentation of a registered 
certificate from an Anglican or Scotch clergyman that they could understand 
the nature of an oath. This did not apply to cases of libel against a free per- 
son, nor in cases which involved penalties on the defendants, unless the trial 
were by jury. No slave could testify against a white person charged with a 
capital offense, nor against his owner in any criminal prosecution, nor in any 
case involving the right of a slaveholder to a slave, or regarding an alleged 

'^24 Geo. Ill, 1. 
""2 Geo. IV, 37. 
""4 Geo. IV, 2. 
29 



450 HISTORY 

manumission. Slaves could testify against manumitted persons in all cases 
of offenses below felony. Manumitted slaves, who had been registered as com- 
petent to take oaths while slaves, were allowed to testify as to facts committed 
subsequent to such registration, but not on facts bearing " on the freedom of 
a slave, or the life, liberty or property of a white person," committed between 
the time of registration and manumission. Even then the courts were author- 
ized to throw out all evidence of a slave whose character was bad, even when 
such evidence was not impugned, nor contradicted, by other and more trust- 
worthy evidence."* 

Wilful perjury of a slave on oath was punishable with fifty lashes on the 
bare back. A later statute imposed a hundred such stripes, branding with the 
letter "P" (for perjurer), and disqualification to testify again under oath, or 
to make a deposition."* 

A slave in attendance at court was left in the custody of his master, when 
not actually on the stand. In cases of treason and felony he was placed in 
custody, unless the master entered into a recognizance to guarantee his attend- 
ance when needed."" 

Religious Instruction. — The Bahama people seemed to have laid emphasis 
constantly on the importance of religious instruction for their slaves. Slaves 
who had had this advantage were recognized as entitled to privileges that were 
still denied to other slaves."' The consolidated slave law of 1829 contained the 
following provision: "All masters or owners of slaves'. . . . shall . . . . 
endeavor to instruct their slaves in the Christian religion, and shall endeavor 
to fit them for baptism, and, as soon as conveniently may be, shall cause to be 
baptized all such slaves as they shall make sensible of the Deity and of the 
Christian faith." "' 

Conditions and Terms of Manumission. — To become free was the coveted 
goal of the slave. In order to reach this state he had to comply with rules, and 
to go through severe processes provided by the law ; but after all, the becoming 
free, or gaining recognition as a freeman, depended much on the master. It 
was equally burdensome upon the master who saw fit to manumit a slave. In 
1784 a tax of £90 was imposed on a manumission. The registers of the Colony 
were not burdened with records of manumissions. Such tax was not removed 

'no Geo. IV, 13. 

"no Geo. IV, 13. 

^o" 10 Geo. IV, 13. 

i« See e. g. 24 Geo. Ill, 1. 

^"^Loc. cit. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 451 

and declared illegal until 1827, at which time only a small registry fee was 
exacted of such liberally disposed masters."' 

A law of the year 1805 confined the trial of all questions of the freedom 
of slaves to the General Court. For the accommodation of claimants to free- 
dom in the Out-islands, it was arranged that a magistrate could force a master 
to give up his claim to the ownership of a slave, or pay the expense of carrying 
the case to Nassau for trial in the highest court of the Colony. The expense 
of the latter alternative fell upon the master. In all such trials for freedom 
only the freedom of the slave could be determined, and only nominal damages 
awarded; but if the judgment were favorable to the claimant, another suit 
for damages could be made, as well as for wages for the time during which 
freedom had been unlawfully withheld."* A second suit for freedom, on grounds 
different from those on which freedom had once been denied, or based on facts 
occurring subsequent to the previous judgment, could not be denied to a slave. "° 
Magistrates were authorized to appoint guardians for slaves."* 

By the later provision for the manumission, the instrument freeing the 
slave had to be in writing, under seal, witnessed and registered. A slave could 
then, for the first time, purchase his own freedom under the express law of the 
Bahamas, He could also purchase the freedom of his wife or child, or of a 
relative, on such terms as he might make with the owner in each case. The 
code gave its support to all such agreements, if they were reasonable. In case 
of a disagreement between the owner and the slave, as to the price on which 
they had fixed for the price of freedom, a referee was to be appointed on 
behalf of each party, which referee would act, together with a magistrate, to 
determine upon the amount of compensation due the owner. If these parties 
failed to come to an agreement, an umpire was appointed to make a final deter- 
mination. His decision on the case the law upheld. These proceedings were 
not to affect the rights of judgments, or of creditors, mortgagees, or joint 
owners. 

Children under fourteen years of age could not be manumitted without 
the consent of their owners. The statute of 1824 forbade the manumissioji of 
old or infirm slaves, with a view to saving the Colony the expense of the main- 
tenance of such persons in the poor establishment. In the statute of the year 

^"^7 Geo. IV, 1. 

"* 45 Geo. Ill, 20, and 7 Geo. IV, 7. 

"= 10 Geo. IV, 6. 

^"''Loc. cit. 



452 HISTOEY 

1827 such slaves were allowed to be set free, but the master so inclined must 
provide for all such manumitted persons throughout the remainder of their 
lives."^ 

Holidays. — Sunday labor was for the first time expressly forbidden in 
the later codification of the slave laws of the Colony. Christmas Day and 
the two following days were allowed as holidays. During these days the 
managers of gangs of slaves, or of plantations, were strictly required to be 
present on their plantations, or wherever the presence of their slaves required 
them for the purpose of keeping order."* 

Rights and Duties of the 'Masters. 

Under this head will be considered : Eight to property in the slave, com- 
pensation in case of manumission, as to runaways, denial of the right to culti- 
vate land, etc., punishments, general authority over slaves. 

Right to Property in the Slave. — The slave code secured to the master the 
possession of his slave as a chattel. The master held the slave bound to him- 
self, had power to limit his freedom, to govern his conduct, and to determine 
his sphere of action, within the limits of the restrictions mentioned above. 
At best in this Colony, where mildness was reputed to have prevailed 
in the treatment of slaves, his lot was still that of the slave. With this 
property the master had the right of purchase and sale, which was absolute 
within certain bounds. He could alienate a slave just as he could alienate any 
other property, except when such alienation would involve a removal outside 
of the Bahamas. Eemovals were regulated by statutes of the imperial Parlia- 
ment. The time and energies of the slave were at the disposal of the master. 
By the custom of the place, slaves were allowed some time to work for them- 
selves, to be utilized, if they saw fit, for the laying up of money for buying 
absolution from their own bonds. The offspring of slaves were, by law, in the 
same condition as their parents, and belonged to the owners of the parents. 

Compensation in Case of Manumission. — The slave code not only guaran- 
teed to the master the possession of the slave, but if the latter was manu- 
mitted, or taken from his master without consent, compensation was 
allowed for the loss. In case of manumission by agreement between 

^^ 4 Geo.- IV, 6, and 7 Geo. IV, 7. Admiral Fleming states that he knew of a 
few cases in the Bahamas, in which the negroes had bought their freedom from 
their masters, but that, in his experience there, he did not know of many cases of 
that kind. Sess. P., 1831-32, 20, pp. 218-19. 

^0^ 10 Geo. IV, 13, sec. 75. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 453 

master and slave^ the former was allowed whatever compensation might have 
been agreed upon. If a slave were condemned by a court to be executed or 
transported, the jury passing the sentence was authorized to fix a valuation 
on the slave, not to exceed £100, which was made over to the master from the 
public treasury as compensation."* 

As to Runaways. — The nmaway slave Avas returned to his master when 
apprehended."" It was difficult for a slave to make good his escape in a 
country where there was so little land on which to hide, and where the means 
of transportation were so limited. But running away was at times a frequent 
occurrence; so common did it occur several times in the history of the Colony 
as to become a matter of serious concern to the authorities. Both Governor 
and legislature might be seen at times dealing with this vexed question, offering 
amnesty to slaves who would deliver themselves up within a given time, and 
warning those who refused to surrender.^" The alarm, caused by the great 
number of desertions in the years 1800-01, was the immediate cause of the 
passage of a law to deal summarily with them. It ordered the registration of 
all free negroes, mulattoes, mustees and Indians, and enacted that if at any time 
five or more runaway slaves were reported, free negroes were liable to be armed 
and sent in pursuit of them. Colored freemen were offered rewards for the 
arrest and delivery of deserters. They were allowed to kill a fugitive slave, if 
necessary, in order to ward off a counter attack from the offending slave."^ 

The later code defined a runaway as follows: "Every slave absent from 
his owner or employer for ten days together without leave .... found at a 
distance of eight miles from the house or plantation, to which he belongs, 
without a ticket, or permit, shall be deemed a runaway.^' Exception was 

"» 10 Geo. IV, 13. 

"» Smyth's Ds. No. 212, and Ds. S. St., 1833, No. 103. The question of runaways 
became complicated with that of removal under the administration of Sir James 
Smyth. He interfered with the removal of several slaves who had run away from 
the Out-islands to New Providence to escape from ill-treatment of their masters. 
Removals from one island to another were allowed only when the person owned 
land on the island to which the removal was to be made, and was removing the 
slave for the bona fide purpose of cultivating that land. 

"'BaTiama Gazette, XI, Nos. 40, 55, 75, 115, 296, etc. Hardly an issue of the 
Gazette in 1794-95 failed to give notice of the escape of a fugitive. Private rewards 
were offered for their return. See also H. V., 1800-01, p. 21, record of the action of 
the House of Assembly respecting runaways. The slaves had congregated in the in- 
terior of the small island of New Providence where their presence had caused alarm 
to the white inhabitants. 

^"10 Geo. IV, 13. 



454 HISTORY 

made for slaves going to and from market with such articles as they were 
allowed to trade in. According to the code the master of a runaway slave was 
required to advertise a description of the property thus escaped; otherwise if 
the slave were executed or transported for any crime the master could receive 
no satisfaction from the public treasury. There were standing rewards, author- 
ized by the law, for the encouragement of the free blacks in the arrest of 
fugitives and in the capture or destruction of rebellious slaves. If, on the 
other hand, a slave assisted another slave to secure himself in hiding, or aided 
him in making good his escape, he made himself liable to a flogging of from 
forty to a hundred stripes. A free colored person, taking part in such an 
undertaking, became liable to a fine, or imprisonment until he consented to 
pay the same. The purchase or sale of runaways was forbidden under heavy 
penalty. A reward of £1 was offered to a freeman who should return a de- 
serting slave."'* 

Workhouse keepers were required to advertise monthly lists of all returned 
runaways in their custody. Any slave, still in custody at the end of twelve 
months, could be sold at auction, and the proceeds devoted to the maintenance 
of the workhouse. The escape of slaves from the custody of the workhouse 
was treated with not less than fifty lashes on the bare back of the offender. 
Slaves, who succeeded in prolonging their stay away from the place to which 
they belonged for six months, were liable to punishment at the discretion of 
two justices of the slave court; those staying away longer than six months 
became liable to transportation for life, or to suffer such other punishment as 
the justices saw fit to inflict, not extending to life or limb. 

An attempt to run away from the Colony, which inevitably involved the 
heinous offense of stealing a boat, was also punishable with transportation, or 
such penalties as the slave court saw fit to inflict. A free colored person, assist- 
ing in such an enterprise, made himself liable to transportation for life, and if 
he returned to the Colony, he was to suffer death without benefit of clergy."* 

Denial of the Right to Cultivate Land, etc. — Owners or masters could 
deny to their slaves the right to cultivate, on their own account, cotton and 
certain other crops, to rake salt, or to raise cattle or any other live stock. They 
could not prevent slaves from cultivating peas or beans, nor even from dealing 
in and raising corn and cotton, when the master was not engaged in the same 
occupation. Slaves were allowed to go about dealing in dry goods, only on 

"=10 Geo. IV, 13. 
"^ 10 Geo. IV, 13. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 455 

certificate from the masters^ which would protect them from being arrested 
and imprisoned. They were altogether forbidden to sell spirituous liquors^, or 
to sell meats, either of which offenses demanded the application of the lash."' 

Punishments. — Slave masters had the right practically to punish their 
slaves at their own discretion almost to any extent that discretion might allow, 
with impunity to themselves. They themselves reported that their punish- 
ments were light, and only such as were essential for the promotion of good 
deportment among the slaves. There is reason to believe that the punishments 
inflicted in the Bahamas were generally mild, but there were instances of the 
most unprovoked brutality, showing the possibilities under a regime in which 
the law, while expressing itself against cruelty to the bondsman, was impos- 
sible of enforcement, so that almost full rein was given to the masters. Slave 
masters could not be punished for ill-treatment of their slaves in a small 
colony, where the whole family of whites was on their side against the slaves. 
The grand juries left conscience behind, and did not hesitate even in the pres- 
ence of a watchful governor to ignore the complaint of a slave against the 
cruelty of his master. Governor Sir James Smyth made the attempt in three 
test cases to prosecute masters for cruelty, but diligent and attentive as he was, 
the grand jury threw out slave evidence and slave complaints, just as if the 
law had not spoken at all in the matter."'^ This was a time of high excitement, 
but this was not the only time when such conduct was observed. Wilful mu- 
tilation was forbidden, under penalty of forfeiture of the claim upon the 
recipient of it. The death penalty without benefit of clergy nominally threat- 
ened the murderer of a slave. Placing iron collars on the necks, loading their 
bodies with weights or chains, offenses which doubtless never found many 
to inflict them in the Bahamas, were forbidden. The use of the whip, cat-o'- 
nine tails, or other instruments, to persuade slaves to work were also placed 
among the forbidden things."' 

The most common form of punishment for petty offenses was whipping. 
This must have been inflicted at the nod of the owner in the time before the 
amelioration was begun. There seems to have been no restriction as to the 
number of lashes that could be inflicted, until the statute of 1824. At that 
time a limitation was fixed which was retained in the later code. No more 
than thirty-nine lashes were to be laid on in one day, and no further punish- 

"■^ 4 Geo. IV, 6, and 10 Geo. IV, 13. 

"« Cap. II, pp. 63-64. 

^" 7 Geo. IV, 1, sec. 8, and 10 Geo. IV, 13. 



456 HISTORY 

ment of the kind was to be inflicted until the recipient had become free from 
the lacerations resulting from punishments already inflicted. The owner, or 
the person authorizing the infliction of the penalty, was required to be present, 
and to witness the application of it. The British Ministry and the Governors 
of the Colony made attempts to have the flogging of female slaves dispensed 
with altogether. The nearest approach to this that was ever attained was in 
the provision that females above the age of twelve years could be punished 
only in the presence of their masters, or that flogging could be commuted to 
solitary confinement, or stocks, or distinctions of dresses, none of which was to 
continue for a longer period than ten days. This commutation was at the 
discretion of the master. Gaol and workhouse keepers were forbidden to 
punish slaves committed to their custody, without the consent of the owners 
or employers or of some competent court."' 

Violence towards whites was a very grievous offense for a slave to commit. 
Assault on a white was punished with death, under the statute of 1784. Other 
abuse of a white person, under the same statute, was atoned for by a fine of 
£15, or corporal punishment, not limited in amount or in character."' In 
1824 violence towards whites was made punishable at the discretion of the 
magistrate before whom the case was brought. The statute of 1837 fixed the 
penalty at fifty lashes for abusive language or threats against a white person. 
The death penalty for an assault against a white with a dangerous weapon was 
reenacted in 1830.'"* 

General Authority Over Slaves. — As a privileged class in a community 
the whites were given certain general authority over all slaves in the Colony. 
They used their influence of moral suasion for the preservation of order and 
the prevention of trespassing on private rights by slaves. Although these duties 
were in the main extra-legal, there were nevertheless some such requirements 
expressed in the code. By the law of 1784 whites could disarm any slaves or 
free colored persons whom they found at large with arms in their hands. By a 
law of 1823 whites could authorize slaves to kill hogs, goats or sheep which 
trespassed against the stock laws by running at large on the highways about 
Nassau and its suburbs."^ 

"«10 Geo. IV, 13. 
"' 24 Geo. Ill, 1. 
^^"10 Geo. IV, 13. 
"1 3 Geo. IV, 2. 



the bahama islands 457 

Opeeation of the Eegistration System. 

During the years that the House of Assembly was resisting the efforts of 
the home government to secure a definition of the legal status of the slaves, 
the registration system was not lost sight of. It had been put into operation 
and several enumerations had been made."^ The colonists never gave up the 
hope that the King and the Ministry would see the utter uselessness of the regis- 
tration system for this Colony, and would allow it to be repealed. It was doubt- 
less to this end that a report was made by a House committee on an inquiry 
into its workings in 1827.'"^ This report was doubtless colored to make it appear 
that there was no need of the system, as it was made by those who would have 
liked to have found in it such objectionable features as would demand its 
repeal. It was a vexation to the people of this Colony where the constituent 
islands were so widely scattered. It entailed an expense that made it more 
vexatious, since it was, from the point of view of inhabitants of the Bahamas, 
an unnecessary system. The slave mariners, who were peculiarly useful owing 
to the physical condition of the Colony, could not be employed regularly, nor 
to the advantage of their owners. The employment of them outside of 
the Colony was forbidden, and use within the Colony was subjected to such 
restrictions as almost to deprive the owners of the value of their skill. Diffi- 
culties arose in registering the slaves of the ignorant Out-island people. But 
for the consideration shown them by the Kegistrar of slaves, in spite of the 
inaccuracies of their returns, the operations of the law would have been attended 
with much greater difficulties."* 

THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. 

Thus far there had been no serious difficulty in the enforcement of the new 
slave code. The greater part of the time had been taken up with the enactment 
of slave laws in such form as would be acceptable to the home government. 
Governor Grant had had some difficulty with the House of Assembly, but had 
left the Colony with amicable relations still existing between himself and the 
people. In 1829 Sir James Smyth was sent out as Governor. 

^^ Sess. P., 1831, 19, p. 171. The total slave population of the Bahamas in 1831 
was 9268. There were 2991 free blacks, and 4240 white. See also loc cit., 1833, 
26, 473, extracts from several censuses. In 1822 there were 10,808 slaves, in 1825 
9284, and in 1828 9268. 

^=^H. v., 1827, pp. 24-26. 

^^ Loc. cit. 



458 HISTORY 

Governor Sir James Smyth. 

The new slave code was practically completed on his assumption of the 
government, and with a few exceptions was in accord with what had been 
recommended by the British Ministry. It was now the duty of the new 
Executive to apply that code to the society of the Bahamas, and thus accomplish 
the end which had been aimed at in all the anxious endeavors of the preceding 
fifteen years. 

Sir James Smyth was a thoroughly conscientious man, painstaking in all 
he undertook to do, and attentive to all the duties of his office. He was filled 
with the abolition sentiment of the mother country, which had been the cause 
of so much anxiety to the British colonists, and was a willing instrument for 
the enforcement of the amelioration laws. He hated the injustice of slavery 
and was not in sympathy with the invidious distinctions as to color and race 
which pervaded the Colony. He also had an exalted idea of the prerogative, 
but found here, however, that the legislature had taken into its hands several 
important functions of the Executive. A part of the task he was to undertake 
lay in the reclamation of legitimate executive powers from the grasp of the 
House of Assembly. 

Attempt to Give Effect to Eeforms. 

The legislature was in session when the new Governor arrived at 
Kassau. In his closing address to that body, soon after his coming, the 
Governor frankly congratulated the members of the House and Council, 
that they had gone beyond what any of the other colonial legislatures 
in the West Indies had done in the enactment of provisions for the amel- 
ioration of their slaves.^"" Although so much credit was due to this body, in 
the view of the Governor there was still one important question which they 
had steadily refused to yield. This was the flogging of female slaves, on which 
so much emphasis had been laid as the darkest blot on the institution of 
slavery ."° It was claimed by the slave owners that flogging was the sole means 
of compelling the submission of refractory females, that they were more difficult 
to deal with than the males, and that until some other mode of punishment 
equally as effective as flogging could be discovered, they were unwilling to give 

"" H. v., 1829, 107. This was not a source of gratification to a body of slave- 
holders, who were hoping that the ministry would discover the inexpediency of the 
enactment of such laws and instruct the Governor to apply for their repeal. 

^=0 10 Geo. IV, 13. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 459 

it up. The Governor made known his attitude against this practice in a 
proclamation/^ 

A case demanding the Governor's attention soon arose. One of the justices 
of the General Court, acting as agent for an estate, sent a female slave to the 
police court at Nassau, where she was ordered to be flogged. The Governor 
acted quickly when the case came to his attention. The Assistant Justice, who 
was a member of his Council, was suspended from that position, and the police 
magistrate, Eobert Duncome, was suspended from office, both to await the 
determination of the home government on the conduct of the Governor.^'* The 
Executive, confident of the good results that would follow, was dismayed to 
find out that the conduct of the two prominent persons did not cause an ex- 
pression of disapproval on the part of the people. It now began to dawn upon 
him that it was improbable that he could procure the passage of the desired 
law against flogging women .^^* 

When the Assembly met again, in the fall of 1831, Governor Smyth made 
an appeal to the House to pass a law to do away with the inhuman practice of 
flogging. He had just restored to their owners a crew of slave mariners whom 
the revenue officers had attempted to condemn for a violation of the law 
governing removals.^"* His conduct in this affair had greatly pleased the 
House, for it had sent an address to him not to allow the slaves to be prose- 
cuted. The Governor took advantage of the favor gained by his conduct, to 
press upon the Assembly the question of flogging of females. But he was 
doomed to disappointment again. The feeling on the question had not im- 
proved in the least in favor of the view of the Governor. While it was ac- 
knowledged that whipping was not often necessary, and that it was being 

^=^ Smyth's Ds., No. 42, and H. V., 1831, p. 95. 

"^ Smyth's Ds., No. 42 

^-^ Loc. cit. The Governor was relieved from embarrassment in his Council by 
the resignation of Assistant Justice Lees. In this affair and in the difficulty with 
the slaves of Lord Rolle, Lees was estranged from the Governor, and the latter was 
thus unfortunately deprived of the services of a man who made himself invaluable 
to the successors of Sir James Smyth. 

"" H. v., 1831, p. 78. The revenue officers had seized the crew of a sloop on its 
arrival at Nassau for an alleged violation of the law governing removals, committed 
at Crooked Island. The Governor, anxious that justice should be done, laid the case 
before the Crown law officer for his opinion. The Solicitor upheld the seizure, and 
held that the slaves should be prosecuted to condemnation and forfeiture. The 
House sent in an address to the Governor, praying that he would not suffer the 
property of one of the inhabitants to be treated in this way. The Governor over- 
ruled the opinion of the Solicitor on the merits of the case, and restored the slaves 
to their owner. 



460 HISTOET 

abandoned in practice, still these representatives of the slaveholding constitu- 
encies were unwilling to give the sanction of legislative approval to its aboli- 
tion/" In the Council there was better success. A provision for this purpose 
passed there, however, was thrown out on the first reading in the House."' An 
appeal was made to the clergy of the Colony to use their influence in educating 
the people to a more humane feeling, and to use their influence against the 
practice,"'" for the Governor realizing that the only way in which the abolition 
of female flogging could be brought to pass was by the reaction on the Assembly 
of the public sentiment of the community."* 

Flogging of Female Slaves. 

This meeting of the legislature had closed in the spring of 1831. An- 
other session was found necessary in order to enact some provision for the 
jury law, which expired during the year. The Assembly was accordingly 
called to meet early in June. The Governor had purposed to be unremitting 
in his efforts to secure the passage of a statute abolishing the flogging of 
female slaves, and he availed himself of every opportunity to call the attention 
of the members of the House to it, and to urge them to take action for that 
purpose. He had prepared an address to the House on the question, and was 
on the point of presenting it, when information was brought to him of a bold 
act of cruelty to a female slave."' Jolm Wildgoos, a member of the House 
for western New Providence, had ordered a female slave, belonging to himself, 
to be punished in the workhouse, where she had been conflned for several weeks, 
following a former severe punishment, also inflicted by his order."^ Governor 
Smyth merely called the attention of the House to the conduct of this member, 
trusted it to take the course which humanity would have dictated, by the 
expulsion of Wildgoos from its membership. In spite of the former disappoint- 
ment at the tolerance of the community as to flogging, he still confidently ex- 
pected to find sufficient humane feeling among the members of the House to 

"^ H. v., 1831, p. 95. The members of the House appeared not to think it worth 
while to reiterate the arguments against the flogging of women. They referred the 
Governor to a former address of the House upon the same question. 

"'' Smyth's Ds., No. 88. 

^^^ Loc. cit. 

"* See this address printed as enclosure No. 2, in Governor's Ds. of April 5, 1831. 
Sess. P., 1831-32, 46, p. 287 (24). 

"=H. v., 1831 (extra session), p. 36. 

^^^Loc. cit. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 461 

rise up against such conduct as this on the part of one of their number/" But 
he had not rightly judged this body of men. He had credited them with too 
much anxiety for humane treatment of their slaves. This legislature like its 
predecessors had been so extremely sensitive to encroachment on its own as- 
sumed rights, and had insisted on privileges and immunities for its own mem- 
bers, but it was not inquisitive in the case of one of a down-trodden class for 
whose condition it was responsible. These slaveholders did not wish to have 
the abuses which their system of bondage would permit inquired into and re- 
vealed to the world. It was no affair of theirs. If the member had committed 
any breach of the laws of the Colony, the courts of law were open to punish him. 
As far as they were concerned, they would take no further notice of the 
allegations against him, than to reply to the Governor that they regarded his 
late message to them as an interference with their privileges which was " un- 
warranted and wholly unprecedented." "* It would appear that the Governor 
was not acting outside of the line of his duty in calling the attention of the 
House to the conduct of affairs and current events in the Colony. He made no 
request of the House, he merely called the attention of the members to this fact 
that had been reported to him, with no comment thereon."" He did not expect 
the House to proceed to the punishment of the member, further than to investi- 
gate the case, and consider whether he should continue to hold his seat in the 
House, for he himself expected to make Wildgoos answer at the " bar of the 
proper tribunal " in the trial of the case."" He might in his own view have 
been charged with dereliction of duty, if he had failed to call attention to it. 
On the side of the House, it was an outburst of that traditional jealousy 
of the Colony against alleged interference with its privileges, occasioned 
at this time by an exasperated state of mind. This Governor had been insist- 
ing on the consideration of this question ever since his arrival in the Colony, 
and now the House wished him to make an end of it. Both House and Gov- 
ernor doubtless felt that it was improbable that Wildgoos would be made to 
suffer for what he had done. A public sentiment, that would not demand his 
expulsion from the membership of the House of Assembly, would neither de- 
mand his prosecution in the courts of justice. The Governor desired it to be 
established and to become known that such conduct would not be tolerated in 

^^'^ hoc. cit. Governor's address to the House on this affair. Also Joe. cit., 
p. 40. 

^'«H. v., 1831 (extra session), p. 38. 
^^^ Log. cit., p. 36. Governor's address. 
^*° Loc. cit., p. 40. Governor's address. 



4:62 HISTOEY 

the Bahamas; the members of the House desired to ignore the matter and 
allow it to be advertised as little as possible."^*^ 

The House determined upon the recall of Sir James Smyth from the 
position in which he had become a cause of constant vexation to it, and to the 
slaveholding element in the Colony. It began with an investigation of the 
state of the police and the Nassau workhouse and gaol. On this committee of 
inquiry were placed two of the most violent slave owners in the whole Colony, 
one of whom was very bitter against the Governor for his conduct in the case 
of some runaway slaves."^ This report charged the Governor with unjusti- 
fiable interference with the trials of slaves, in several instances, with the result 
that the owners had to become judges and executors of the law and to punish 
their slaves on their own authority. It charged him further with using his 
patronage for breaking up the influence of masters over their slaves; and that 
witnesses in the courts had been cautious in giving their testimony, fearing 
executive displeasure."^ The House was so well pleased with the report of this 
committee that it proceeded at once to the passage of a set of resolutions de- 
nouncing the Governor, charging him with subversion of law, with encouraging 
a refractory spirit in the slaves, with encroachment on the privileges of the 
House, and continued maladministration of the affairs of the Colony until it 
became the part of duty no longer to submit; it openly declared its utter loss 
of confidence in him. It resolved to ask the King to remove him from the 
government.^'" The Governor had refrained from interfering with the House 
proceedings in order that that body might content itself by doing all in its 
power to secure his recall."' As soon as it had reached that point, it requested 
him to put an end to its proceedings as it would do no more business while he 
remained in the Colony."" Action was not long delayed. A prorogation oc- 

^*^Loc. cit., pp. 41, 44, 45, 47 and 49. Also Smyth's Ds., No. 105. Perhaps it 
should be stated that the Governor was as prejudiced on the one side of the slavery 
question as were the majority of the members of the House on the other. But it 
cannot be said that the former committed as great indiscretions as did the latter in 
these difficulties. 

"^ Smyth's Ds., No. 105. See also the report of this committee in H. V., 1831 
(extra session), pp. 44 and 45. 

^*»H. v., loc. cit. 

^^ H. v., 1831 (extra session), pp. 47-49 and 58. It was decided to send the whole 
of these proceedings to the Colonial Agent at London, and to the Marquis of Chandos, 
chairman of the West India body at London. These officials were to be asked to 
use their influence to secure the recall of the Governor. 

"^Smyth's Ds., N. 105. 

""H. v., 1831 (extra session), p. 57. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 463 

curred on June 31, onty three weeks after the opening of the session/" 
ISTot long afterwards a dissolution was proclaimed, and the members were sent 
back to their constituents " to appeal to that good sense, and to that good feel- 
ing, which have ever been found to be inherent in Englishmen in all parts of 
the world." "' 

In the midst of the excitement over these things, the consideration of the 
jury question for which the session had been called was forgotten. As no jury- 
act was passed, there was no provision for the calling of jurymen, except by 
the common law, according to which colored freemen could be included in the 
list of those called for this duty."" Another advantage was that the common 
law did not exclude the evidence of slaves from the courts. 

Governor Smyth had succeeded in effecting some reforms in the slave courts 
of the Colony. Before he came, the complaints of slaves had not met with any 
considerable encouragement. Eecords of the slave courts had not been kept before 
the year 1829, when a special instruction directing this to be done was sent out 
by the Secretary of State."" These records were now, in every case, laid before 
the Governor prior to the execution of the sentence imposed, and, on the author- 
ity of his superior, the Governor allowed the execution of no sentences in cases 
in which -he had reason to extend the King's pardon to the offenders.'"' 
Decorum and order were introduced, and enforced, in the trials of slaves, all 
which was due to the solicitude of the Governor for giving equal justice to 
both blacks and whites. A restoration to the position of justices in the slave 
courts of Magistrates Duncome and Anderson, whom Governor Smyth had sus- 
pended for inflicting punishment on slaves, worked against the success of the 
cause in which he was laboring. Both whites and blacks accepted it as a dis- 
approval of the conduct of the Governor, or as an indication that the home 
government was not interested in the trials of slaves, nor in the measures for 
their amelioration.'"^ These two men were again dismissed before the end of 
the year and finally removed from the number of the justices of the slave 
courts. They had begun again in the same manner in which they had acted 

^"^ Log. cit., pp. 57 and 61. 

"^H. v., 1831 (extra session), pp. 61-62. Also Smyth's Ds., No. 105. 

"° Smyth's Ds., 135. Half of the salary of the provost marshal was paid by the 
Crown. The Governor now hoped that as that officer was not entirely dependent 
on the House he could easily be induced to summon negroes as well as whites to 
serve on juries. 

""Circular Ds., 1829, and Smyth's Ds., No. 133. 

"^ Smyth's Ds., No. 133, and Ds., S. St., 1831, No. 32. 

"^Smyth's Ds., No. 133. 



464 HISTORY 

before they were first suspended. The sanction of the home government of the 
removal for a second time was a virtual confirmation of the policy of the 
Governor in his dealing with the police magistrates/^* 

Elections of 1832. 

It was necessary, for the sake of the interests of the Colony, to have another 
session of the Assembly, but the Governor delayed the issuance of the writs of 
election in order that the minds of the excited slaveholders might become more 
calm before legislation was again undertaken.""* The calmer mood was not 
reached, however, as he had hoped it might be. All classes in the Colony looked 
forward anxiously to the coming election. The members of the late House did 
not give up their determination to contest every point with the Governor. In 
this they were supported by a majority of the voting population.""" At the be- 
ginning of the last session of the Assembly a number of the more conservative 
members, who were men of ' influence in the community, had' withdrawn 
from the House in order to avoid being present on the occurrence of such a 
breach with the government, as seemed to be inevitable. Only four members 
were left who were favorable to the Governor. Almost every vote of the session 
had resulted in a majority of 13 to 4 against him. The extremists now set 
about the returning of the same individuals to the new House. A scurrilous 
newspaper, edited by a disaffected individual, took issue with almost every act of 
the government, and became the organ of the opposition, reveling in false 
charges against the government and gross abuse of the colored population.*™ 
Local officials, the payment of whose salaries depended on the annual grant of 

"^ Smyth's Ds., Nos. 122 and 124, and Ds., S. St., 1832, Nos. 44 and 45. 

"^ Smyth's Ds., No. 127. 

"^See H. v., 1832; app., p. 1. Petition of the House for the removal of the 
Governor. Petitions were also sent in from the inhabitants of New Providence, 
from Harbor Island, and from Abaco, calling for the removal of the vexatious 
Governor. See loo. cit. and ff. The results of the elections to the new House 
will show better than these things the state of feeling of the majority of the voters 
of the Colony towards the policy of the representative of the Crown in the Bahama 
government. 

"' Smyth's Ds. of July 2, 1832, account of the prosecution of the editor of the 
Argus for libels on the Governor, abuse of the negroes, and the whites who had 
acted in support of the Governor and his policy. This editor was convicted on the 
first of the six charges brought against him. The others were withdrawn. See on 
the conduct of this paper, Ds., No. 127. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS ' 465 

the House of Assembly;, were neutralized in the elections that here took place/" 
The whole of the local population was not, however, against the Governor. 
Some of the most influential slaveholding members of the community had 
viewed with disapproval the course pursued by the majority of the late House, 
and were at this time working for the defeat of that majority. The whole of 
the free negro population was favorable to the government."' But there was not 
a large number of this class that were admitted to elections. In spite of the 
efforts put forth to elect men of temperate disposition, all seemed to point to a 
victory for the opposition, in which event there would be a renewal of the old 
difficulties and an inevitable resort to a dissolution."'' It was a time of anxious 
anticipation with Governor Smyth. The elections occurred near the beginning. 
of the new year, 1832, resulting in the return of most of the same individuals 
who had sat in the late House, and with an addition of others of the same 
disposition. The opposition majority in this Assembly was stronger than it 
had been in the former one."" 

The Governor opened the session of the legislature on the seventh of 
February with another appeal for the removal of the legal distinctions 
as to race, urging that the House could surround itself with grateful 
friends."* A House committee hastily drew up a reply, on the receipt 
of the executive address, and presented it to the House for its sanction. 
It contained a refusal either to alter the laws governing the negroes, or to 
legislate at all while Sir James Smyth was Governor of the Bahamas. The 
Governor was addressed in language that was unusual on such an occasion. 
Messrs. Malcolm and ISTesbitt, the sole government members, proposed certain 

^^'' Loc. cit., No. 132. Some of these officials doubtless favored strongly the 
policy of the government but dared not take active part in the elections because of 
this influence of the House over them. Incumbents of these positions who were sent 
out from England were generally favorable to the policies of the government and 
were a source of strength to it in its struggles with the local legislature. 

"' Log. cit., No. 127. When the petitions for the removal of the Governor were 
sent in, the free blacks of New Providence petitioned the King to retain Sir James 
Smyth as their Governor. There was a like petition of the whites of the same 
island. See acknowledgment of these in Ds., S. St., 1831, No. 32. In his despatch. 
No. 133, the Governor wrote that many of the ignorant whites at Abaco and else- 
where signed the petitions against him, because they were under the influence of 
the store keepers on Bay Street at Nassau. 

"° Smyth's Ds., No. 127. While the Governor was planning for the meeting of 
the legislature, he was also planning the course he should follow in case of a disso- 
lution without the passage of the necessary legislation. 

1^° H. v., 1832, p. 1. 

"^ H. v., 1832, p. 7, Governor's opening address. 
30 



466 HISTOEY 

alterations in order to make the address more respectful. All their suggestions 
were rejected by the vote of 19 to 2, and the address was presented as it had 
come from the hands of the committee."' The temper of this body was further 
shown on the presentation of a desjaatch from the Secretary of State, in which 
the full plan of the Ministry for the amelioration was outlined."' Those who 
were urging these measures little reckoned that within the next two years 
Parliament would take the vital step in disposing of this burdensome question ; 
they could not foretell that the proposed regulations, if adopted, would have no 
more than time enough to come into full operation before the necessity for 
them would have passed away. The hard experience of eight years had 
impressed the Ministry with the . necessity of firmness in dealing with 
the holders of slave property, and of consistency in the advice that 

"^H. v., 1832, pp. 18-19. 

^^ v., 1832, pp. 25-32. Copy of the despatch of Secretary Goderich. The home 
government now attempted to make it known that there had never been any in- 
tention on its part to deceive the colonists, but that now it was thought well to make 
a full declaration of its motives and intentions which had actuated it throughout 
the whole course of its dealings with the slave question. It was represented that it 
was necessary to satisfy the feeling for the slaves in the mother country. On the 
other hand, that there was a strong feeling of sympathy for the holders of West 
Indian property, which was so much affected by these measures. It was represented 
that during the last eight years the efforts in behalf of the slaves had met with 
slight success, that advice given had been little heeded, and " in many cases rejected 
without the forms of respect." The following was stated as the final intention, but 
not in the spirit of peremptory dictation: "His Majesty's government intend to 
propose to Parliament in the present session, in common with other financial meas- 
ures of the year 1832, a measure of substantial relief for the West Indian interests, 
so framed as to take effect on the produce of the Crown colonies as a matter of 
course; and upon that of the other colonies only in which the provisions, in their 
precise terms, and in their entire extent, of His Majesty's Order-in-council (of Nov. 
2, 1831), for improving the condition of the slaves, shall have acquired the force 
of law. The measure will be so framed, that the indispensable condition of re- 
ceiving the benefit of it will be the existence of a colonial statute having passed 
the colonial legislature simply, and without qualification in terms, or time, de- 
claring the Order-in-council to possess the force of law in the colony." Further, it 
stated that allowing the legislature to frame the statute was by no means the in- 
tentions of the home government, as that left in its hands also the essence of the 
law. The labors of several years had secured the faithful execution of very little 
of the desired program. Prejudice prevented the Colony from doing what the 
home government demanded; dispassionate self-possession, so much needed for 
unbiased action, was absent. The government would be seriously concerned, if these 
measures failed to pass. The prosperity of the planters was to be renewed. West 
Indian insensibility to public opinion in the mother country was regretable in this 
view, for it threatened the colonies with more dangerous calamities and commer- 
cial reverses than they had ever experienced, and which it was beyond the power 
of human resources to prevent. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 467 

was given them."* The copy of the Order-in-council was laid before the 
House at the same time."^ It was printed, and copies of it were dis- 
tributed by the members of the House to their constituents, in order to 
obtain their views, before deciding a question of such momentous importance."" 
But whatever might have been the opinions of their constituencies, they re- 
peated their declaration not to consider the question of amelioration while the 
head of the government remained imchanged."^ The Council expressed its 
opinion that the measures were not applicable to the Bahamas."^ The colonists 
feared that if the Governor were allowed to continue his course a slave insur- 
rection would follow. Again they recited their grievances in a petition to the 
King for the recall of Governor Smyth."' The House proceeded to business, 
passing bills " for the public benefit/' some of which were so framed as to make 
sure that the Governor would not give his assent to them. Thus the responsi- 
bility for the lack of legislation would be shifted to the Executive. Payments 
were authorized by the House to be made without the warrant of the Governor."* 
Other measures offered by the House would have perpetuated the legal recogni- 
tion of the race distinction ; a market bill provided that no negro should be a 
member of the market commission; a printing bill contained within itself the 
names of all the commissioners, all of whom were members of the House of 
Assembly; the revenue and appropriations bills contained very objectionable 
provisions. Three or four important bills that were presented were left un- 
signed by the Governor."' When the violent course of the House led it again 
to the point of petitioning for the recall of the Governor another dissolution 
was resorted to, in order to prevent more violent conduct."'' 

""^"Loc. cit., pp. 25-32. 

^"^Loc. cit., pp. 33-72. 

^^'Loc. cit., p. 110. 

^''^ Loc. cit., p. 121. 

^''^ Smyth's Ds., No. 141. All but two of the members of the Council were at 
the mercy of the House on the salary list question. The Governor hoped to gain 
control of the salary list, and thus secure independent action on the part of the 
official members of the Council. 

"^H. v., 1832, p. 209. The petition was dated March 21. 

""Smyth's Ds., No. 142. 

"^ Log. cit.. No. 143. The Governor had forewarned the House that he would 
not sign any bills that were such as would tend to perpetuate the invidious race 
distinctions. 

"^ H. v., 1832, p. 232. This was the second dissolution within a period of eight 
months. 



468 HISTORY 

GrOVERNOK SmYTH AND THE SLAVEHOLDERS. 

This was the end of the struggle between Governor Smyth and the House 
of Assembly. With the consent of the Secretary of State, the Governor deter- 
mined to undertake the government of the Colony for a term without the 
assistance of the legislative body, hoping thus to introduce a better state of feel- 
ing among the people. Before the time when the next House was called Sir 
James Smyth had been removed from the Bahamas. 

The excitement which had prevailed among the inhabitants of the Colony 
had only been increased by this second dissolution of the Assembly."' The per- 
sistence of the House in its opposition to the wishes of the home government, 
and its heedlessness to the warnings of the latter, had, in the view of the 
Governor, caused it a considerable loss of prestige. On the other hand, the 
consistent attitude of the Executive towards the question of race distinctions, 
and his maintenance of the rights of the prerogative, had very materially in- 
creased his personal influence in the Colony and had won back to the Crown 
representative the exercise of important executive functions."* The control of 
the markets and the public buildings had now come into the hands of the 
Executive, and he had gained a temporary control of the civil list."° As a result 
of the contest the Colony was left without the regular annual provision for the 
revenues. But the Governor was not thus entirely deprived of the means of 
supplying the needs of the public service. There were still some funds at his 
disposal.^'^ While these would not supply all the demands on the public purse, 
they did relieve the Governor of the fear of not being able to carry on the 
government. Public and private interests would have to suffer great incon- 
venience in this state of things,"' unless succor came to some of them from the 

"^Smyth's Ds., No. 143. 

"^"^LoG. Git., Nos. 143 and 163. 

"^"^Loc. Git., No. 143. 

^'«H. v., 1832, 214. The funds that would be forthcoming, in the absence of 
the annual revenue act, were salt and tonnage duties, and duties imposed by acts of 
Parliament and collected by the King's revenue officers at the ports of the Colony. 
An old act of the Assembly of the 8th of Geo. II, came into operation in such 
default of revenue as this. It provided for revenues of which the Crown could 
dictate the disposal. It had been forgotten in the years 1793-4, when the Earl of 
Dunmore had difficulties with the House; the Receiver-General had unearthed this 
statute and duties were collected under its authority. It had never been repealed, 
perhaps owing to the negligence of the House in not removing this possibility of 
obtaining revenue from the Governor. Ds., S. St., 1832, No. 65. In addition to this 
there were the funds arising from the quit rents which came to the Crown. 

"'Smyth's Ds., No. 143. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 469 

home government, for which the Governor made application to the Colonial 
Department. 

The Governor was left in complete control of the situation. The As- 
sembly, being out of the way for the time being, there were sufficient revenues 
in his grasp to carry on the government without the interference of those who 
had supported the late House,"* and h-e received the approval from the Secretary 
of State for that conduct which had excited such protests on the part of many 
of the colonists."' Further than this he was informed that the petitions, which 
had been sent in, calling so urgently for his removal from the government of 
the Bahamas, had been laid before the Privy Council, and that that body had 
not considered them of sufficient Aveight to merit any serious attention.^^" The 
state of feeling in the Colony was still much the same as it had been. The 
same prejudices existed, and there was the same aversion to the head of the 
government that there had been since that official had had his first break with 
the legislature. The seal of approval of his past conduct was an encouragement 
to him to continue his efforts in the " out-door '' sphere, in which he had been 
so successful. He fully realized now that the task of relieving the negro pop- 
ulation from the burdens under which they had been placed, and the raising 
of them to a higher plane, was anything but a popular undertaking in this 
atmosphere of slavery. He also realized that the whites alone were qualified 
to deal with the problems of local legislation, but that they needed to be taught 
the reality of the royal power, and that they should pay due respect to it. In 
order to accomplish his purpose the Governor feared it would be necessary to 
lay open wider the wounds of the Colony, and to estrange the people perhaps 
more than ever before, but he was confident that, with the support of the royal 
power, as he had been upheld thus far, there would be a speedy improvement 
in the state of feeling throughout the Colony. He continued his course as he 
had done before. During the remainder of his incumbency of the government 
he was not to be interfered with by the encroachments of the legislative power, 
upon what belonged to the Executive,"^ nor with its protest against the proper 
performance of his duties. We shall see how completely he had things under 
his control, and in what respects the local authorities were enabled to obstruct 
his attempted reforms. 

^''^Loc. cit. 

""Ds., S. St., 1832, No. 65. 

^^"Loc. cit,, No. 73. 

"^ Smyth's Ds., No. 163. 



470 HISTOKY 

The Governoe's Council. 

In entering upon his new experiment the Grovernor had the support of the 
majority of his Council. Although he was successful from the very beginning, 
there were petty annoyances that constantly disturbed him, and tended to keep 
alive the animosities against the authorities. The House of Assembly in its 
late session had provided, before its dismission, that, in case its life were 
brought to a premature end, its commissioners of correspondence should keep 
up their communication with the Colonial Agent in London. A stream of 
complaints was kept going to the mother country ; something was being done to 
disquiet the people and keep up the state of ill-feeling."'^ But the people were 
disappointed that the Governor was enabled to continue the government with- 
out the necessity of the voting of funds by the legislature. The ordinary 
functions of the government were performed regularly and punctually ; salaries 
were paid as they had been at other times. The disappointment at his progress 
found lodgment in the hearts of some members of his Council. The venerable 
Chief Justice of the Bahamas, William Vesey Munnings, and three other 
members of this confidential body, could not cheerfully contemplate this suc- 
cessful administration. Necessary actions of the Council were " caviled at,'' 
petty obstructions were thrown in its way to impede it. Outside of the 
Council, the Chief Justice was in a position to defeat the ends of the govern- 
ment by the interpretation of the laws.^'^ With his companion obstructionists 
in the Council he gave out a statement in public that the arrangements, sug- 
gested in the Order-in-council of November 2, 1831, were impossible of appli- 
cation in the Bahamas. A statement under his authority was respected, and 
this one would have the influence of turning men against the measures for the 
amelioration of the slaves. He attempted to induce the Governor to issue 

"- Smyth's Ds., No. 143. 

"^ Smyth's Ds., No. 194. The Governor had desired the removal of Chief Justice 
Munnings from the Colony, in order that some one might be put in the position of 
Chief Justice who was not accustomed to interpret the laws to the prejudice of the 
slave, and in favor of the white man. From his long continuance at the post, 
Munnings was not the man to aid in the introduction of a new system in the 
Colony. The Secretary of State had at first considered favorably the plan for the 
transference of the Chief Justice to a place outside of the Bahamas. Later, how- 
ever, he advised the Governor that he was unable to make the promotion. The great 
disappointment of Mr. Munnings at this intelligence doubtless contributed largely 
to determine his conduct at this time. Smyth's Ds., No. 194. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 471 

warrants for payments from the colonial treasury in an illegal manner/^* The 
Governor feared a coalition of the disafEected members for the purpose of out- 
voting him. In order to prevent this, he seized the opportunity in the absence 
of two of the members from New Providence, and the inability of one other to 
attend, to call to the Council the Solicitor-General, the Eeceiver-General and 
the Collector of the King's customs, all of whom were of the government party."" 
The two disaffected members remaining were chagrined at the next meeting 
to find that they were outvoted. They gave vent to their feelings of dis- 
appointment in such rough manners and intemperate language that they were 
both dismissed.""" By such measures the Governor disposed of the remnants of 
opposition that were left in positions of authority. At a meeting of the 
Council in the last quarter of 1832 he disclosed that the Colony was able to pay 
all salaries — judicial, ecclesiastical, and civil — in full. ISTo hindrance to the 
course of public business occurring, the public confidence in the measures of the 
government appeared to increase. The Governor purposed to put off as long 
as possible the calling of a new legislature, in order that the public mind might 
be given time to regain composure.""' 

Attempt to Educate the Afeicans. 

In the meantime, the Governor was making anxious endeavors to educate 
some of the negroes. The colonists had regarded his activities in this sphere 
with jealousy. The expense of what had been undertaken in this way had 
fallen on the Crown funds, with the sanction of the Colonial Department. 
Governor Smyth had desired to have placed at his disposal a quantity of school 
supplies, that were in the hands of the board of education, in order that he 
might use them in the African schools, which he had established. As Chan- 
cellor of the Colony he forced the board to give up the supplies, but he received 
from its members a discourteous note. He placed all of them in prison. All 

^^* Smyth's Ds., No. 194. The Chief Justice in a meeting of the Council 
remarked that it was useless to have the Council sign the warrants for the 
quarterly payments from the treasury, as its consent was not necessary. The 
Governor merely replied that he was doing it that way because he had been in- 
structed to do so. The legal method was for warrants to be signed in the presence 
of the Council. Loc. cit. 

"^ Smyth's Ds., No. 200. He at once applied to the home government for a 
ratification of his conduct. 

^^^ Loc. cit. 

^^'' Loc. cit., No. 206. This was the third quarter for which the Governor-in- 
Council had been able to provide support to public interests. 



472 HISTOBY 

but two obstinately refused to make the apologies required of thein. The other 
five had to submit to the indignity of remaining in prison for a few days. The 
effect of this was to increase the influence of the Executive and the public con- 
fidence in his impartiality to all classes/^ 

The Out-Islands. 

Although the Governor could send back an Assembly to its constituency, 
still he could not by this means control slave masters in all their dealings with 
their slaves. The people did not consider themselves subject to all the re- 
straints which the Governor had attempted to enforce in their relations with 
their slave property. In the Out-islands the prestige of the reforms that had 
been effected in part at Nassau was not great. In these places the Magistrates 
were of the same class as the ignorant mass of the people. From such admin- 
istrators of the law, justice could hardly have been expected, especially towards 
a class of persons whom they held as chattels. The consolidated slave law was 
so loosely constructed, and speciously worded, that it could easily be interpreted 
and applied to the prejudice of the slave class. The giving of slave testimony 
had become a deterrent to the infliction of wanton punishments of slaves, and 
yet the section of the slave code applying to testimony was the most complicated 
portion of the statute.'^^ The possibility of abuses on the Out-islands was so 
great that Governor Smyth resolved, on his own authority, not to allow the 
removal of slaves from New Pro^ddence to any of the Out-islands, unless the 
names of all slaves thus removed should be entered in his office as qualified and 
competent to give evidence in the courts.'"'" At Governors Harbor, Eleuthera, 
it was reported that several masters had not allowed to their slaves the requisite 
legal amount of food and clothing."^ Cases of cruelty occurred in some places. 
In several instances when masters attempted to exercise authority over slaves, 
or to inflict punishment on them, the latter ran away to Nassau, where they 
knew they could claim the protection of the Governor."^ It has been stated 

^^^ Smyth's Ds., No. 203. It is interesting to note in connection with this affair 
that the Secretary of State not only refused to ratify the conduct of the Governor, 
but that he also replied that he had no power to interfere with, or take cognizance 
of, the exercise of the Governor's powers as Chancellor of the Colony. He declined 
even to express an opinion on it. Ds., S. St., 1832, No. 114. 

"' Smyth's Ds., No. 212. Also 10 Geo. IV, 13. 

^'° Smyth's Ds., No. 212. 

^^^Loc. cit. Also Balfour to Stanley, No. 27. 

"' Smyth's Ds., Nos. 63, 64, 187, 189 and 216. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 473 

above that the treatment of slaves in the Bahamas was mild. If that is true 
still there were cases of the most unwarranted cruelty on the part of masters, 
and of illegal punishments, inflicted in an illegal manner. But the statement 
that the slavery of the Bahamas was a mild form of that institution must be 
taken as a relative statement, and to substantiate it, the number of instances of 
cruelty there occurring, relatively to the number of slaves in the Colony, must 
be compared with like returns from other colonies, or from the neighboring 
States in the same time. As compared with the slavery of the States, it may be 
said that the people of the Bahamas on several occasions deprecated the intro- 
duction of slaves from the continent, for the reason that they feared that the 
latter were so discontented, that they would be mutinous, owing to the 
extremely severe treatment which it was presumed slaves always received in the 
States. The same was true to a large extent in the case of slaves from all of 
the island colonies, especially from San Domingo and the French colonies. 
But, on the other hand, it is very easy to argue that the number of cases of 
cruelty in this Colony would not have to be very large in order to make the 
percentage high, for the slaves of the Bahamas numbered only 9000 to 10,000. 
However this may be, the Bahamas were by no means free from cases of cruelty, 
and Sir James Smyth was ever unremitting in his efforts to do away with it 
altogether. He found the state of public opinion disappointingly low, accord- 
ing to the standards of morality and social consideration to which he had been 
accustomed. He set to work to try to educate the public mind to a higher 
plane, but he did not wait until this was accomplished before trying to shield the 
negroes from occasional barbarous treatment. It was part of his plan to teach 
by example, as well as by precept, and to place before the Bahama public exam- 
ples of justice tempered with mercy. 

Lavp" Against Cruelty to Slaves not Enfoeoed. 

In entering upon this line of conduct. Governor Smyth was making a break 
with the precedence of a system that was perhaps as old as the Colony itself. 
He was breaking with the interpretation, and with the application, of the 
law that had grown up within the Colony. The Governor determined to prevent 
further evasion of the slave laws. He was advised by the law officers of the 
Crown at London that he could proceed against a slave master charged with 
cruelty on ex-officio information. He then ordered the Attorney-General to 
bring before the grand jury the three worst cases of alleged cruelty, that he 
would have to take up by indictment, and through them to make a test of 



474 HISTOKY 

the enforcement of the law against the cruel treatment of the slaves."^ In spite 
of the fact that the grand jury, chosen to prefer indictments in these cases, was 
the fairest one that had been summoned in the Colony for several years, the 
several bills were ignored ; so nearly was slave evidence, and the complaints of 
slaves, excluded from the Bahama courts."* 

Masters continued to take advantage of the authority they had over slaves, 
to inflict punishment on them up to the time of the abolition of slavery. It is 
possible that there were more cases of this sort of conduct after the coming of 
Sir James Smyth as Governor than before. Their slaves may have been less 
disposed to compliance with the master's orders, when they knew that there 
was a high authority to whom they could complain with the certainty of being 
heard. The masters may also have been more irritable, and more disposed to 
inflict punishments, and to enforce subordination, for the same reason. In 
August, 1833, three magistrates brought to justice an offender, for cruelty to a 
female slave at Harbor Island. Their conduct caused such a commotion in that 
place, that the magistrates were compelled to swear in special constables in order 
to keep the peace. Four out of twelve of these were free negroes. The excited 

"5 Smyth's Ds., No. 202 and 212. Also Ds., S. St., 1831, No. 37. The case of 
John Wildgoos was one which the Secretary of State deemed it desirable to 
prosecute. Wildgoos had, however, left the Colony with other rabid slave men like 
himself, declaring that no man could live under " the present arbitrary Government 
of this Colony." Ds., No. 202. Wildgoos went to America. The three cases 
selected for this test were: (1) That of a number of slaves from Eleuthera, who 
had run away to Nassau to complain to the Governor of the severity of the punish- 
ment inflicted on them. They had been taken back to their master, severely whipped 
again, and on their way to Nassau, making a second attempt to escape, their 
boat capsized, and the whole company was drowned (Smyth's Ds., No. 187); 
(2) The case of a female slave at Harbor Island, who had been beaten "by her 
master with a cow-skin about the back, shoulders, bosom and face. In this case a 
brother slaveholder, who was a magistrate, interfered to denounce the conduct of 
the master, the first instance of the kind that had come to the knowledge of the 
Governor; (3) " The third," writes the Governor, " was that of a wretched worn-out 
old man, who having served his master all his better days, was sent adrift to seek 
a new owner, carrying a paper saying that he was to be sold for $25." The Gov- 
ernor himself found him and referred his case to the police court. Soon afterwards 
he found the same negro " bleeding from the effects of a flogging which his master 
had caused to be inflicted upon him for having complained to me (the Governor) the 
day before." (Ds., No. 202, dated Jan. 1, 1833.) 

"^ Smyth's Ds., No. 212. For other cases of cruelty see loc. cit., Nos. 63, 64, 
139, 187, 212, 216; Balfour to Rice, Nos. 32 and 41. Also Sess. P., 1831-32, 46, p. 287 
(24), enclosures in a despatch of Sir James Smyth; letter to a member of the House 
of Assembly at Nassau on the flogging of women. Also H. V., 1833, pp. 105-106. 
Also Ds., S. St., 1833, No. 27, and 1827, No. 1 (May 12, 1827), and enclosures. Also 
Nassau Gazette of Feb. 17, 1827, Feb. 24, 1827; and Ds., S. St., 1827, No. 2, of Sept. 
28. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 475 

feelings against the magistrates rose higher, and the three magistrates were on 
the point of resigning their commissions. Lieutenant-Governor Balfour se- 
cured from the Colonial Department approval for this conduct, as in line with 
the policy which it was desirable to follow in the slave colonies."" On other 
Out-islands occurred instances of mutinous conduct on the part of slaves, owing 
to the negligence of their masters, or overseers, in providing them with the 
requisite rations and clothes. At Exuma and Eleuthera gangs of slaves re- 
fused to work for this reason, but no serious consequences resulted.^"" If these 
cases occurred at this time, when it was known that there was a Chief Magistrate 
in the Colony, who was intent on punishing offenders against justice to the 
slaves, it is not unlikely that such a state of things existed during the years 
before his coming. Although these cases may not have been of frequent oc- 
currence, still it is evident that the slave system of this Colony admitted of 
flagrant abuses from ill-tempered or harsh masters, and that there were here 
men who would take advantage of the opportunity, left open to them, to treat 
human beings with lack of consideration, and with unmistakable cruelty. The 
attitude of the public mind towards Governor Smyth gives strong evidence of 
the tolerance of public sentiment in the Bahamas towards the slave owner 
who chose to leave conscience behind in dealing with his slaves. It must have 
been as tolerant before Sir James Smyth came as it was afterwards. Indeed, 
if we accept the testimony of the slaveholders themselves, when they said that 
the barbarous practices, inveighed against by this Governor, were rapidly being 
discontinued by the force of public sentiment,"' we must conclude that con- 
ditions were better in this respect than they had been formerly. However few, 
or many, the cases of this kind of treatment may have been, it is safe to say, 
that, in the case of John Wildgoos, the members of the House of Assembly, 
who may be taken to represent fairly the public opinion, were not willing to 
investigate the abusive conduct of a fellow member, and to put the account of 

"=H. v., 1833, pp. 105-106. Balfour to Stanley, No. 32. For the approval see 
Ds., S. St., 1833, No. 27. 

"° Balfour to Stanley, No. 41. The Lieutenant-Governor sent a squad of soldiers 
to Eleuthera to quiet the disorder. At Exuma, however, the difficulty among Lord 
Rolle's slaves was caused by the failure of the " literate manager " to allow to " illit- 
erate slaves" what was due them. On that ground the government declined to 
interfere. 

An instance of the most revolting cruelty occurred at Watlings Island in July 
1833. A slave was tied hands and feet to a beam, another slave was placed across 
the suspended body, and, while in that posture, a merciless flogging was adminis- 
tered. Death resulted from the cruelty. Loc. cit., No. 23. 

^"^ H. v., 1831, p. 95. 



476 HISTOEY 

it on paper, so that it might become generally known. This would doubtless 
apply to other cases also, which occurred with their consent, or at least without 
any expression of disapprobation. 

Eemoving Slaves from One Island to Another. 

The removal of slaves from one island within the Colony to another was 
a source of vexation to the colonists, and a thing that caused no little unpleas- 
antness in their relations with the Governor. The removal of slaves from one 
British colony to another was regulated by statute of the imperial Parliament. 
By the same authority removals from one island in the Bahamas to another 
were made only by special permission in each case. The licenses for this 
purpose were issued by the Governor, but only on condition that the owner 
of the slaves to be removed held lands in the island to which the removal was 
to be made, and was taking them thither for the bona iide purpose of cultivating 
such lands.""^ The result, as in the case of the registration of slaves, was a 
great inconvenience to the planters, who had to bear the expense of a trip to 
Nassau, and a loss of time, in order to transfer a gang of slaves from a 
plantation on one island to one on another. The worn-out condition of the 
soils of the Bahamas, the consequent decrease in their productiveness, and 
the augmented hardship on owners of supporting slaves, whom they could 
not employ fully, increased the feeling of the people against the vexing regula- 
tions which Parliament had imposed upon them."" There was often great di- 
versity of employment of slaves in the same gang in this Colony, and the in- 
terests of the same master often required removals back and forth from island 
to island during each year.^"" 

The people were not disposed to comply with the law on this matter. 

i»8 Smyth's Ds., No. 63; also No. 216. The Governor gave a mistaken interpreta- 
tion to the law respecting removals, in his zeal to protect the slaves from injustice. 
He held that an owner could remove a slave from one island to another, only when 
he held lands in both islands, the one from which, and the one to which, the re- 
moval was to be made. He refused to grant licenses to those who could not certify 
that they held possessions according to his interpretation. During the incumbency 
of his successor, Lieutenant-Governor Balfour, Lord Stanley corrected the error by 
his instruction that the ownership of lands on the island, to which the removal was 
to be made, was sufficient warrant for granting a license for a removal. 

For Secretary Goderich's opinion on the law, see Ds., S. St., 1831, No. 103. The 
imperial regulation is found in Imp. Stats., 5 Geo. IV, 113. 

™H. v., 1828, pp. 27-28. Petition asking that the Bahama slaveholders be 
allowed to remove their slaves to some other colony where they could be profitably 
employed. 

=°° H. v., 1828, p. 79. Also pp. 67 and 73. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 477 

The conduct of a prominent local official, Assistant Justice Lees of the General 
Court, was no encouragement to others to abide by the law. He tricked the 
Governor into granting a license, in an irregular manner, for the removal of 
a gang of slaves from Exuma to Cat Island. When the slaves were about to 
be removed they fled to Nassau to complain to the Governor. Lees took pos- 
session of them, brought them to trial, and threw them into the workhouse, 
where they were severely flogged as runaways.'"^ 

These regulations interfered with the use of slave mariners, many of whom 
were employed in the shipping of the Colony. Formerly a master could go to 
sea with his slaves at his own convenience, without any reference to the 
authorities in the government. The necessity of going to Nassau, in order to 
obtain a permission for each trip, in great measure deprived the masters 
of the value of these slaves.^^ Unless such slaves had been registered, before 
setting out from one island or port for another, they were liable to seizure on 
arrival at a port, to which the customs establishment had extended. They 
could then be prosecuted, as slaves brought into the island without the war- 
rant of the Governor, the penalty of whi^h was forfeiture.^"^ The legislature 
protested against this regulation in the winter of 1831-1832 on the arrest of 
five mariners, who had been seized under it. Their protest produced no effect 
on those who were responsible for the regulation, although the Governor did, 
in the case referred to, restore the slaves to their owner.""* 

""^ Smyth's Ds., Nos. 63 and 64. Both the Governor and Lees were at fault in 
this affair. The former had not required the latter, as agent for Lord Rolle, to 
obtain the license from the Public Secretary in the regular way. The latter did 
not tell the whole truth as to the purpose of the removal until after the signature 
of the Governor had been secured to the paper bearing the license. The Governor 
protested against it, but to no purpose. As an officer of the law the Assistant 
Justice might have been more careful to comply with the letter of the law, which 
he certainly understood, as an example to the community. (Ds., S. St., 1831, No. 5.) 
Lees seemed to have had a private understanding that if he obtained the license 
for the removal, he would receive a portion of the profits of the cultivation of the 
land of another man than Lord Rolle. (Smyth's Ds., No. 63.) Another feature 
of this affair was that no record of the trial of the slaves at Nassau was kept. 

^"^ See H. v., 1831, p. 73. 

^"^Loc. cit. 

'"^H. v., 1831, p. 73. See also loc. cit., appendix. The vessel, which was thus 
taken possession of, was on a wrecking tour. It had put into Crooked Island, 
where there was a collector of the port, who had never made known the fact of his 
presence. There had been no separate notice given out that this regulation would 
apply to the mariner slaves. The Crown law ofiicer took the view that the slaves 
should be forfeited according to the provisions of the law. The Governor decided, 
and acted, on the merits of the case, and restored them to their owners. Loc. cit., 
1831, p. 95. 



478 



HISTORY 



Slave Trade Suevives. 

Daring adventurers kept up the slave trade. Even in the face of the diligent 
endeavors of the British Empire to apply its laws against the trafl&c, the 
promise of gain by the smuggling of slaves into the colonies tempted many to 
engage in this inhuman business. The islands of the Bahamas with their 
numerous jutting rocks, and treacherous surrounding seas, lay in the track 
commonly followed by slavers on their way to certain parts of the slave terri- 
tory. Navigation through these seas was always attended with great danger 
and wrecks were frequent. Slave ships were not exempt from these 
perils. Besides, the vessels of the royal navy patrolled the waters for the 
apprehension of slavers. Both wreckers and men-of-Avar continued to bring 
slavers into the port of Nassau, until long after the abolition of slavery in the 
British colonies. This was the origin of a numerous class of people in the 
Bahamas who became objects of special care to the Executive, and often of 
jealousy to the owners of slave property. Naval officers were eager to make 
such captures, in order to gain the rewards offered for them by the home 
government. Customs officers were no less eager, on account of the fees that 
accrued to them on the condemnation of a cargo of captives.'"' 

The law regarded those landed on the coasts of British territory as free- 
men by virtue of their having come to that territory,""" and the Governor as- 
sumed the role of guardian of their interests. Some of them were placed in close 
settlements at different places in the Colony. One cargo of them was placed 
at Highburn Cay, 34 miles from Nassau.'" This settlement was to suffer great 
hardships. The captives were of different tribes of Africans, speaking differ- 
ent languages. None of them had acquired any facility in the use of English, 
and there was no means of communication between them. It was soon found 
that the best plan for civilizing them was by placing them where they would 
come most into contact with the whites, where they could acquire the tongue 
of the Bahama Englishmen, and learn also to care for themselves. The 
drouth of 1833 bore with especial hardship on those settled on small islands. 
The Highburn Cay settlers were removed to Nassau.""' Some of the able-bodied 
men among them were enlisted in the second West Indian regiment, but most of 

=•" Ds., S. St., 1832, No. 71. 

='"' Smyth's Ds., No. 130, and No. 137, in which there is another reference to the 
legal opinion on this. 

=»' Smyth's Ds., No. 183. 

"" Balfour to Stanley, Nos. 16 and 26. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 479 

the others Avere apprenticed out, for terms of seven years, to the inhabitants.'"* 
Both of these methods of employing them were afterwards followed. As other 
cargoes were brought to JSTassan, settlements were formed in places where the 
negroes could be tinder the care of the Governor. At Headquarters (the site 
of the present Grants Town), near the city of Nassau, at Carmichael, a few 
miles away, and at Adelaide, on the southwestern coast of New Providence 
Island, were founded the principal settlements of these new inhabitants of the 
Colony.'" In these various places the Africans built their cabins and took up 
residences. The Executive gave them every attention. For those at Car- 
michael Governor Smyth advanced money from his private purse for their 
benefit, and labored in every way to minister to them and to relieve their hard- 
ships.'" The legislature refused to aid the Governor in his enterprise. There 
was a jealousy of his activities in this direction, and he was looked on as a sort 
of " niggers' man." ^^ The Bishop of Jamaica provided a small sum to aid in 
educating them,'^' and further sums were provided by the home government.^* 
Their material needs were cared for, rations were served to them from the 
commissariat,'" and, what was' considered by the Governor as most important, 
means were provided by which moral and religious education was to be 
placed within their reach.'" They were set to work on public improvements for 
the general good, on roads and wells at Carmichael, and on the construction of 
a salt pond at Adelaide.'^^ Superintendents were placed in these settlements to 
act under the direction of the government in carrying out measures calculated 
to benefit the negroes. From the first it was the opinion of the Executive that 
they would be able to cope with their circumstances, and to maintain themselves. 

=«'^ Balfour to Stanley, No. 26. 

"" Smyth's Ds., No. 183. Governor Smyth stated that in September, 1832, there 
were 514 of these negroes at Carmichael, 134 at Adelaide, and 370 at Highburn 
Cay. The service of the army medical staff was extended to these negroes in 1830 
by a circular despatch from London. See Ds., No. 197, on the number condemned. 

"^Smyth's Ds., No. 137. 

'^Loc. ciL, Ds., Nos. 72 and 137. 

''^'Loc. cit., No. 31. 

^* Ds., S. St., 1831, No. 13. In his Ds., No. 72, Governor Smyth had asked the 
Lords of the Treasury for £650 for this purpose. The Lords acceded to this 
proposal. 

=" Balfour to Stanley, No. 16. 

^^« Smyth's Ds., No. 72. 

=" Balfour to Stanley, No. 26. Lieutenant-Governor Balfour feared that it was 
likely that the salt pond would not benefit them greatly, after the oversight of a 
white man was withdrawn. 



480 HISTORY 

They were placed on vacant tracts of CroAvn land in each case.'^^ The people 
expressed fears that their presence would hring disorders on the community/" 
but on every occasion they appeared to be orderly and disposed to work/^" 

Court Martial of Major Kicolls. 

Sir James Smyth continued in the government of the Bahamas until the 
spring of 1833, at which time he was succeeded by Blaney T. Balfour as 
Lieutenant-Governor. The new Executive was of the same mind as Governor 
Smyth had been, on the question of slavery, although not as obtrusive as the 
latter in his manner. Sir James Smyth's leavetaking had been delayed by 
a court-martial of an officer of the troops stationed at Nassau. In the aiitumn 
of 1831 Major Mcolls became meddlesome in criticising the government of 
Sir James Smyth. His conduct was so flagrant that he was placed under 
arrest, and permission obtained from the Horse Guards to proceed against him 
by a court-martial, in order that the whole matter might be probed to the 
bottom, the insolence of the officer punished, and the government vindicated.^^ 
The application for the court-martial was allowed to lie at the Horse Guards 
unanswered for sixteen months. Meantime the offender was confined in the 
prison. He had not been identified with the opposition party at Nassau, but 
the attempt to prosecute him, as one who had criticised the government, was 
sufficient to arouse public sympathy for him. As the departure of Sir James 
Smyth was known to be approaching, the urgency of the matter was the greater, 
for the Governor was the sole prosecutor. If he had departed without having 
tried the case the trial would never have occurred, and it would have been 
looked upon as a discomfiture of the hated Governor. Exultation over it would 
have caused unpleasantness to the successor of Governor Smyth. '^^ On the 
arrival of Balfour the trial was the theme of almost every conversation. 
" Every feeling of civil or military society was evidently enlisted on the one side 
or the other." The testimony all in hand Sir James Smyth departed, and 
Balfour assumed the government, while the case was awaiting the decision of 
the military court.'"^ Balfour thought to remove Major Kicolls, in order that, 

"* Smyth's Ds., No. 72. The Governor wrote that the people of Nassau were 
expressly opposed to the settlement at Headquarters. At first the people steadily 
refused to aid them. 

''^^Loc. cit., No. 137. 

""'"Loc. cit., No. 137; also Balfour to Stanley, No. 26. 

===1 Balfour to Stanley, No. 2. 

'^ Log. cit. 

-=^ Loc. cit., No. 31. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 481 

having both principals out of the way, the excitement might subside. Parti- 
sans could thus be reconciled before feeling would rise against the new 
Executive.^"* The whole difficulty was adjusted during the following winter, 
when the officer appeared to make apologies for writing the letter which had 
stirred up so much trouble/^' 

Abolition op Slavery by Parliament. 

The progress of the anti-slavery movement in the mother country was 
rapid. The pressure of public opinion on the Ministry for the amelioration 
of the condition of the slaves had kept the question constantly before the 
public. The colonies resisted throughout, and resented the pressure put on 
them to enact what they thought no authority had the right to urge. 
Slowly as the Bahamas yielded to the persistent persuasion of the British 
Cabinet and granted rights to the slaves, this Colony was among the first of 
the legislative colonies to take this action.'"" That which was most objection- 
able in the slave system, to the Englishmen in England, namely, the flogging 
of women, had been abolished in but few of the colonies.^"' The unwillingness 
of the legislature to move, and the consequent delays in the passing of the 
much desired statutes for amelioration, caused the demands of the English 
public to rise higher and to become more importunate than they had been. 
" The growth and power of public opinion in England," said Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor Balfour to the House of Assembly, " and not ministerial voluntary option, 
imposed the necessity of Parliamentary legislation on this greatest of colonial 

questions Investigations in the Lords and Commons, no less than the 

intolerance towards the sectarian missionaries in Jamaica, hastened matters 

Public feeling rose to an imcontroUable height. The Ministry had 

but one choice, to bring forward the abolition of slavery. The cabinet hesi- 
tated at the eleventh hour. The House of Commons, in a few days, showed the 
leader of the Ministry that he must propose emancipation, or not continue to 

^^Loc. cit. Major Nicolls was not, however, removed. 

^^^Loc. cit., No. 88. 

^''H. v., 1829, Governor's closing speech to the House. The regulations were 
imposed on the Crown colonies by Royal Order-in-council. 

22^Sess. P., 1831-32, 46, p. 287 (24), enclosure No. 3, in Governor Smyth's Ds. 
of April 5, 1831. The Governor stated in this letter to a member of the House of 
Assembly that the abolition of the flogging of women was not a new experiment. 
He stated that it had been tried in Demarara, Berbice and Trinidad. At least one 
of these (perhaps all of them) was a Crown colony, where the regulation was 
imposed by Order-in-council. 
31 



483 HISTORY 

carry on the public business." '^ The abolition was accomplished by statute 
of the imperial Parliament in the spring of 1833, the same year in which the 
laboring classes in the mother country were relieved of part of the grievous 
burdens under which they too had been laboring."'" Thus was done at one 
stroke what might have been accomplished gradually, and without the necessity 
of a violent shock to the owners of slave property, but for the course taken by 
the colonies in evading the recommendations of the home government. 

Measures were necessary to provide for affecting the transition from the 
regime of slavery to that of apprenticeship, as provided for in the abolition 
act.^° The old laws governing the relation of the masters and their slaves were 

=^H. v., 1833, pp. 245-250. Address of the Executive to the legislature on 
the emancipation. In this address it is also stated that had the measure for the 
emancipation originated in the colonies, it would have been received with increased 
gratitude and attended with diminished risk, hut the experience of the last few 
preceding years had convinced them that there was no ground for such a hope. 
The assemblies were less disposed than ever to pass such a law. The Ministry rose 
to meet the demands of public opinion. This address must have told the truth 
very plainly, and must have given the local legislators such a view of the state 
of things in Great Britain, and of what actually did bring on the emancipation, as 
the Ministry did not want the colonists to have. Lord Stanley almost reproved 
Balfour for his revelation of the secret motives that lay behind the conduct of the 
Ministry in proposing this measure to Parliament. He did not deny that the 
Lieutenant-Governor told the truth in his plain-spoken explanation of the conduct 
of the Ministry. 

The chief of the investigations, referred to in the above quotation from the 
Lieutenant-Governor's speech, was that of the House of Commons on West Indian 
slavery, made in 1832. It is printed in the session papers of Parliament for 
1831-32, vol. 20, a folio volume of several hundred pages. The information 
which the committee was instructed to collect was, in the words of the 
resolution authorizing them, as follows: To note, " (1) Any progressive improve- 
ment which may have taken place in the state of the slaves since the abolition of 
the slave trade in 1807; (2) the actual state and condition of the slaves, the nature 
and duration of their labor, and evidence as to instances of cruelty, and gross abuse 
of authority and power; (3) the increase or decrease of the slave population, as 
respects Africans and Creoles, and as affected by the state and system of slavery; 
and (4) plans for improving the condition of the slaves, or affecting their emanci- 
pation, and opinions as to the probable condition of the negro and the effect upon 
society in the islands which is likely to be produced by such emancipation." Ds., 
S. St., 1832, dated August 11. 

On the publication of this report, naval officials were ordered to hold their ships 
in readiness to answer calls upon them to put down violence, which it was feared 
would result in some places. Secret instructions were sent to the governors, of the 
different colonies to cooperate with the navy in the suppression of any disorders 
arising from this cause. See circular dispatch of Sept. 1, 1832, and the enclosed 
secret instructions. There were no serious disturbances in the Bahamas. 

"^ Imperial Statutes, 3 and 4 William IV, 73. 

^^"Loc. cit. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 483 

continued in force in the colonies, to which they applied respectively, until the 
first of Augnst, 1834."'" Commissioners, anthorized by the Abolition Act, 
were sent to the colonies to assess the valuation of the slaves, on a basis of the 
average price of them during the period 1822-30, in order to determine the 
proportion of the twenty millions of compensation money that should be paid in 
each colony.^^ But the greater part of the labor of providing for the change 
which was to take place devolved upon the local legislatures. We shall now 
undertake to set forth what this Colony did for this purpose. 

Balfour as Lieutenant-Governor. 

Lieutenant-Governor Balfour had begun his administration of the govern- 
ment without the violent and strong prejudices, on the part of the colonists, 
which Sir James Smyth had aroused against himself. Once relieved of the 
presence of the latter, the colonists welcomed the assumption of the govern- 
ment by the new representative of the Crown. There was no promise of a 
relaxation of the efforts to give impartial justice to the negroes, which had 
been made by the Executive since the coming of Sir James Smyth. On the 
other hand the class about to be emancipated very soon found in Balfour as 
earnest an advocate of their interests as they had had in his predecessor. 
Fortunately for his relations Avith the House of Assembly, the flogging of 
female slaves was done away together with slavery, soon after his assumption 
of the government. The transition to the new system of apprenticeship was 
effected during his administration. 

Eumors of the action Parliament was likely to take had reached the 
Colony. Holders of slaves had feared this from the earliest agitation of the 

===' Circ. Ds., Sept. 4, 1833, and further proclamation issued stating briefly to 
all classes what Parliament had done. Loc. cit., and Clrc. Ds. of June, 1833. 

2^2 Circ. Ds. of Sept. 4, 1833. See report of this commission in Sess. P., 1837-38, 
p. 329. According to this the average price of slaves in the Bahamas for this 
period, 1822-30, was £29 18 s. % d. per head; the compensation was £12 14 s. 4% d. 
per head. Bermuda alone, of the West Indian colonies, received less compensation 
per head for her slaves than did the Bahamas. The highest price received in any 
colony was in Guiana, where the valuation was £114 lis. 5% d. per head, the com- 
pensation £51 17 s. 1% d. In the Bahamas there was a total of 1109 uncontested 
claims for compensation, and 24 claims involving the ownership of 456 slaves, which 
caused litigation. Of the classes of slaves according to the definition in *the 
imperial abolition act there were 4020 praedials attached, 270 praedials unattached,, 
and 3444 non-praedials, for all of which compensation was awarded respectively as 
follows: £53,794 13 s. 10 d., £3655 6 s. 6 d., and £61,233 13 s. 6 d. Loc. cit., pp. 
143-9, 344 and 358. 



484 HISTORY 

question of amelioration. Proclamations were issued to both slaves and mas- 
ters^ announcing that slavery had been abolished, and that it would be suc- 
ceeded by an apprenticeship system, and warning all classes to abide by the 
laws. Slaves were urged to continue in the service of their masters, and the 
masters on their part to pay due respect to the commands of the officers of the 
law.°^^ The Assembly was prorogued to a later date than that for which it had 
been called, in order to await the arrival of instructions from the home gov- 
ernment, as to the measures which should give effect in the Bahamas to the abo- 
lition act.'^"' 

The Assembly Convened Again. 

After almost eighteen months of successful administration of the govern- 
ment of the Colony without consultation with the Assembly, representatives 
of the people were again called in to provide for the needs of the community. 
In the interval the feeling against the government was not as high as it had 
been under the administration of Sir James Smyth. But the people did not 
forget their grievances against the Ministry and the local government. The 
abolition coming as it did was received by the slaveholders with sullen silence. 
The same feeling continued to exist as to the interference of the home govern- 
ment with the slavery question. When the elections for the new House came 
on, the people returned almost all of the same individuals who had sat in the last 
House. This did not promise harmony of action with the Executive, nor 
compliance with the wishes of the Ministry, in dealing with the question that 
was now uppermost, namely, the provision for the abolition.^^ The members were 
not disposed to accede to measures that were suggested by those whom they 
regarded as responsible for the loss of their slave property. Almost everything 
brought before them in this session had some bearing directly or indirectly on 
the slave question, so that it was difficult not to encroach upon the already in- 
jured feelings of these legislators. The Colony had come to a state of peace, 
although the old jealousies still slumbered in the breasts of the extreme slave 
element."^'^ 

^' See Circ. Ds. of Sept. 4, 1833. Also Balfour to Stanley, No. 27. 

'" Loc. cit. 

^''' See House Vote, 1833, p. 1; also loc. cit., 1832, p. 1, cf. 

^^'^ H. v., 1833, pp. 5-7, Lleut.-Governor's address on opening the Assembly. The 
Lieutenant-Governor stated that one-fourth of the debt of the Colony had been paid 
off, and that the cooperation of the Assembly was only needed to put the treasury 
on a firm basis, and to deliver the Colony wholly from debt. He expressed high 
hopes that harmony would prevail in the labors of the House, and that good feelings 
would be preserved throughout the session. See also Balfour to Stanley, No. 37. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 485 

The first matter disposed of by the House was the extension of privileges 
to the free black population. The provisions of the resulting statute will show 
how willing the people were to grant rights to this class. The act passed was 
entitled, "An act for Eelieving His Majesty's free Colored and Black Subjects 
from all Civil Disabilities." '" It contained first a declaration that this class 
should have the same privileges as if they were descended from white parents, 
and that they would be entitled to give testimony in the courts, after having 
enjoyed the state of freedom for a period of two years. But, as if this were 
granting too much at one time, this broad declaration was qualified. Native 
Africans brought in and manumitted were not to be allowed to give testimony 
until after six years residence in the Colony, and then only on presentation of 
a certificate from a justice of the peace, or from a clergyman of the established 
church, that they were qualified to testify."'' This statute was allowed to re- 
main in force for two or three years. It was then disallowed by the King. 

Struggle over Executive Functions. 
The Lieutenant-Governor now laid before the House the abolition act of 
the imperial Parliament, together with, the instruction as to the auxiliary act, 
which the legislature was to pass, in order to give effect to the provisions of 
the imperial act. Some of the members of the House seemed to have desired 
to put on the records of the House a protest against the interference of 
Parliament in the affairs of the Colony. They were warned by the Lieutenant- 
Governor that it would not be advisable to do so.''' The Lieutenant-Governor 
formed a plan for an auxiliary act, different from that which had been advised 
in the instructions from the home government, as he thought that that plan 
would not succeed in operation in this Colony, owing to geographical condi- 
tions.'"" But his hopes for cooperation from this Assembly were doomed to 
disappointment through the intrusion of an old and contested question. The 
House of Assembly held an indirect control over some of the most important 
executive functions of the colonial government. Through some means, per- 
haps, as Lieutenant-Governor Balfour said, by the negligence of his predecessors 
in the executive government, the House directly appointed the commissioners, 
who were regularly entrusted with the management of public interests, thus 

2374 William IV, Chap. 1. 

^M William IV, 1; H. V., 1833, p. 32. A clause, regarding the giving of 
testimony in the act of 1829, was repealed by this act. 
^^''H. v., 1833, pp. 245-6. 
2^° Balfour to Stanley, No. 52. 



486 HISTORY 

making them independent of the Executive. These commissioners held in their 
control the expenditure of certain public funds. Eesponsible to no authority, 
they attended to matters hastily, expended money in a loose manner for works 
that were but indifferently done, for which none could call them to account.^" 
Expenditures were specified in the appropriation bill, and the names of the com- 
missioners were placed in the statutes constituting commissions, and authoriz- 
ing them to act. Likewise the House governed the salary list. In this small 
Colony, where almost every man was involved in political collisions, private 
feelings of the legislators were not guarded against in deciding upon, and 
altering the amounts of, the incomes of the officials.^" By its use of these 
powers the House had acquired an influence over the people of all classes, and 
men looked to it as the source from which the favors in the power of the state 
were dispensed. The proper influence of the executive was materially weak- 
ened.^^ The House had a right to control funds applied to the public service, 
to see that they were not diverted from their proper uses, and to curtail them 
if found too large, but after that was done it Avas not in their province to vote 
that they were too large, unless they were forced to such a course by the pressure 
of public necessity.'"' The House had also been able to control the officials 
or at least to bring pressure to bear on them, and to make their conduct con- 
form to the state of feeling in the Colony. The use of these powers by the 
House had acted as a checkmate to the influence of the Crown representative. 
Sir James Smyth had effected a temporary emancipation of the civil list, and 
certain executive functions, from its grasp. His successor now looked on this 
as the most favorable time to wrest these powers from the House altogether. 
He determined to veto bills, by which the commissions were created, unless 

^^H. v., 1833, p. 46, and Balfour to Stanley, No. 61. 

"-H. v., 1833, pp. 147-8, address of Lieut-Gov. to the House. It was not 
difficult for an official to make himself obnoxious at this time by an impartial 
execution of the duties of his office, and the House of Assembly was known to be a 
body that would use the effective weapon it had, in the control of the salary list, 
to keep officials dependent upon it. 

"^Balfour to Stanley, No. 61. Balfour characterized this dependence upon 
the legislature as an American feeling, which was due, in his view, to the great 
distance from the King's person, together with the proximity to, and the constant 
communication with, the States. And just at this time the feeling was the 
stronger, owing to the obnoxious measures that were being thrust upon their atten- 
tion by the home government. The Assembly had been encouraged in its holding 
these executive powers by the virtual concession of them to it by the executive. 

^H. v., 1833, pp. 147-8. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 487 

tliey allowed the Crown to select the members of them/^'^ and by all means in 
his power to bring back the colonial government to the " sound constitutional 
principle of having the responsible servants of the government nominated by 
the Crown." He was even more jealous of the prerogative than Sir James 
Smyth had been. 

When Sir James Smyth came into the government, the House, through its 
control of the salary list, held |)ractical control of the Council which was made 
up almost entirely of salaried officials, and of men who themselves favored the 
popular view of the slavery question. We have seen how this influence was used 
for a time and how Governor Smyth relieved the fears of the officials on 
account of their salaries, and reconstructed his Council, introducing men who 
were better disposed to the government. The Coancil was thus brought to 
favor the policy of the government. But the House on its part was unwilling 
to see these things, pass from its control. Long exercise of the executive func- 
tions by its appointed commissioners had caused its members to look on this 
as the legitimate order of things in a British colony. The Council was looked 
upon as a body which had no right to reject measures sent up by the House. 
It was only to ratify bills passed by the House and ought not to resist a demand 
of the people as embodied in a House bill. It claimed the rights, for Avhich it 
contended, as fully recognized.'"" The House was jealous of the Executive, and 
had frequently protested against fancied encroachments of the latter upon 
its rights. Since the agitation of the slavery question had begun, ignorance of 
the real intentions of the home government had made the colonists, inside and 
outside of the House, suspicious of every step the government undertook. 
They feared schemes for aggrandizement and for the destruction of colonial 
rights; a snare was seen in every civility of the head of the government, and 
in " every proposal was an attempt at some unavowed advantage," which 
illusion only perseverance in " open unoffensive conduct could dispel." ^'' Bal- 
four attempted to invite confidence in himself, to explain his intentions, and 
to be frank and open in everything, but without avail. There was no leader 
to whom he could appeal, no party to whom he could address himself, no definite 
policy to be folloAved. Much time was spent in purposeless speech-making, 
without any attempt to carry on business. " Any ncAV violent expression of 

=^= Balfour to Stanley, No. 61. H. V., 1833, p. 46. 

^^ H. v., 1833, p. 300, resolves of the House on the rejection of the market bill 
by the Council. 

^"Balfour to Stanley, No. 61; see also votes of the House for this session. 



488 HISTORY 

opinion was received with applause.'^ ^' The only thing that could bring them 
together was some suggestion of opposition to the government and its policy. 

The first breach of good feeling of the session arose over the market bill in 
which the House insisted on naming the clerk of the market. The Council, 
viewing the question from the administrative side, refused to accede to the 
House bill.^° A conference of the committees of the two bodies undertook an 
adjustment of the difficulty. The Council considered the appointment to the 
clerkship in question as an undoubted executive function, and declared that it 
would not allow it to become subservient to the caprices " of any body of men 
however respectable.^' ^^° After the conference a. House committee was sent to 
inspect the records of the Council as to its action on this bill. It was soon 
found out that the latter body had thrown out the bill.^^^ The House at once 
passed a defiant set of resolutions, holding that it Avas against the public in- 
terests -to keep it longer in session, and that it would not appropriate any money 
for the public buildings and grounds " until the right of the people " over 
them should be fully recognized, and a bill should have received the assent of 
the Executive, entrusting the care of the public buildings to a commission of 
five or more persons named by a House bill.'^^ As soon as intelligence of this 
reached the Lieutenant-Governor he called the members of the House to the 
Council chamber, where he administered some wholesome admonitions, and sent 
them back to their constituents.^^ 

The Lieutenant-Governor had given warning that he would veto any bill 
reviving the old boards.''" The Council had taken the exact course that he 
would have dictated if he had absolute control of it. Now that the House 
attacked it, and refused to proceed to business without the absolute submission 
of the Council, there was no other course left open to the Executive. The 
Council must have condemned the action of the House, or refused to vote at all, 

='* Balfour to Stanley, No. 61. 

**° The Council at this time had both executive and legislative functions 
residing in the same body of men. The members were not now in fear of the 
House, and their connection with the administration had doubtless given them the 
same view of the results of the House policy that the Executive himself took. 

^=°H. v., 1833, p. 260, report of House committee on the results of the confer- 
ence. This clerkship carried with it certain judicial functions. 

^^^Loc. Git., p. 265. The committee reported that the reading of this bill had 
been postponed for six months. 

^''-R. v., 1833, p. 300. 

===H. v., 1833, pp. 205-206. 

^°'H. v., 1833, p. 46. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 489 

whicli latter it decided to do/^° A collision of the branches of the legislature 
was approaching, and the experience of the years 1817-1821 was not forgotten. 
The discord between the branches of the government was as threatening to 
public interests as it had been at that time, and harmony between the two 
Houses had become a thing of the past. Such a body, Balfour thought, would 
not have been fit to deal with the slavery question in the stage to which it had 
come. 

There was a reaction in public sentiment unfavorable to the members of 
the late House. This was favorable to the government. The advantage, due 
to the unpopularity of Sir James Smyth, had not been entirely lost. Suspicion 
still prevailed among the supporters of the late representatives. Many were 
jealous of the free blacks, who would now enjoy the exercise of the suffrage in 
the approaching elections for a new House.''* It was probable that the new 
elections would result in the return of different individuals to the House, and 
in a virtual endorsement of the policy of the government. For this reason the 
writs were issued at once, and a new election was held within ten days after the 
dissolution. The more moderately disposed candidates were generally suc- 
cessful. But the presence of the extremist element in this House was shown in 
the first few days of its sittings. James Malcolm, who had been defeated 
according to the return from Harbor Island, made application for the unseating 
of the person elected.'^^ He had been one of two members in the late House 
who had consistently voted against the majority. The House determined not 
to set any day for the consideration of his petition, until he should have entered 
into a recognizance for £200 to pay the expenses of the investigation, in case 
it appeared that the unsuccessful candidate had neglected to comply with the 
provisions of the law.'°^ This had the effect of causing Malcolm not to pursue 
the object of his petition, for which it was doubtless intended. Soon the 
House voted that, unless the petitioner entered into the bond within three days, 

^°H. v., 1833, pp. 305-6. In dismissing the House the Lieutenant-Governor 
used strong language, but he thought he was justified in the case that was 
before him. He had hoped for a peaceful termination of the session. He had 
borne with many petty taunting actions of the House, hoping that it might become 
more moderate. See Balfour to Stanley, No. 61. 

^^^ Log. cit. 

'"H. v., 1834, p. 47. In a scrutiny held in that district after the election, 
Malcolm had had no representative. On the return of the scrutineers, one of their 
number was heard to say that he believed, if Malcolm had been represented by a 
scrutineer, he would have been declared elected. On the strength of this the un- 
successful candidate prayed for an investigation by the House. 

^^^Loc. cit., p. 51. 



490 HISTORY 

it would not consider his petition at all.^" The matter was allowed to drop. 
A few weeks later in the session one of the members for Harbor Island resigned, 
and Malcolm was allowed to take the seat thus vacated/"" 

Provision for the Coming Changes. 

This House had met for the purpose of attending to the business of the 
Colon}^ It was necessar^y first to provide for keeping the slaves until the day 
when they would pass into the new condition of apprentices. The Eegistry 
Bill was reenacted on February 5/" and other necessary matters were disposed 
of. The important work for this session was to provide for giving effect to the 
Abolition Act of Parliament. A copy of the Order-in-council, that had been 
proclaimed in the Crown colonies, was sent to the House as a convenient out- 
line for the formulation of the auxiliary act.^°^ It was designed to relieve the 
slaveholders as much as possible in the loss of their property, and to lighten 
the burdens of the bondsman in the same manner. But the sug- 
gestions of the Ministry were not made in the form of demands. Slavery 
Jiad been given its deathblow by the home government, and now everything was 
to be done to assist the afflicted colonies to make the best of a bad situation, 
which was, however, almost inevitable in the annals of nineteenth century 
progress in civilization. The apprenticeship system was recommended, as the 
most beneficial to the negroes, and as least burdensome to the masters, but 
the express instruction was that " neither as individuals nor as a legislature 
were they bound to continue the state of slavery, or apprenticeship, for an 
hour." ^" 

The House set to Avork at once. A committee investigated the points 
touched upon in the Lieutenant-Governor's speech at the opening. Difficulties 
arose, owing to the ignorance which prevailed, on the part of both House and 
Executive, as to the share which this Colony was to have in the establishment 
provided for by the Abolition Act.'"^ The act was passed, and the necessary 
provision for the introduction of the apprenticeship system on August 1, 1834, 

''^^Loc. cit., p. 68. 

^">Loc. cit., p. 111. 

-"^H. v., 1835, p. 176, the defects of this act are pointed out here. 

="- H. v., 1834, pp. 19-47. 

"-'' H. v., 1834, p. 5. 

-" This is especially true as to the number of the special magistrates that were 
to be allotted to this Colony. For a description of these magistrates and their 
powers, see next chapter. For the recommendations of the House committee, see 
H. v., 1834, p. 169. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 491 

was made/'^' There was an attempt to revive the old difficulties^ over the ap- 
pointments^ during the session. A measure was introduced containing in itself 
the names of the commissioners of the public buildings.^*"^ The Lieutenant- 
Governor sent in a timely warning that he would allow no one but himself 
to appoint the buildings commissioners.'^^ Several days later the House ex- 
pressed its view again in a set of resolutions much milder than those of the 
previous session, but still claiming the right for which it had been contending.'*' 
The Council still stood in the way of the passage of the measure.""" After con- 
ferring with the Council in the attempt to adjust the difficulty/'" it was allowed 
to go over to the next session. The result thus far had been a victory for the 
government. The House could not dictate the appointments, and the Exec- 
utive assumed the control to which he laid claim. 

On the approach of the day on which slavery was to come to an end in 
the British West Indies there was much apprehension on the part of the whites 
that there might be uprisings among the slaves. Eutnors had spread among the 
latter alleging good fortune to them far beyond what the home government 
had expected to grant them. But a part of their ignorance of their approaching 
condition was assumed rather than real.''^ The Lieutenant-Governor issued 
proclamations to both blacks and whites, urging them to be orderly, the masters 
to use every influence for the preservation of peace, and the slaves to remain in 
the service of their masters, whom they would have to serve several years 
longer.^" The clergy of all denominations, who were enlisted in the cause of 
order, were very influential among the lower classes. The private secretary of 
the Lieutenant-Governor was sent with the proclamations among the Out- 
islands to read them to the people there. Everywhere he was listened to Avith 
confidence by the slaves, as he wore the uniform of a soldier. The effect of his 

^^^ See 4 William IV, 21. See on this act the following chapter on the legal 
status of the apprentices. 

=^«H. v., 1834, p. 102. 

^^'Loc. cit. 

"^Loc. cit., pp. 155-156. 

'^^Loc. cit., p. 206. 

^'"Loc. cit., p. 253. 

"^ In some places the private secretary of the Lieutenant-Governor on his 
trip to the Out-islands found wild misconceptions as to what the negroes were 
coming to. In one place it was believed not only that they were to become free, 
but also that all troubles were at an end, and that the King was going to give them 
bread all the rest of their lives. 

='" Sess. P., 1835, 50 (Part 2), pp. 251-2, and 261. Copies of these proclamations. 



492 HISTORY 

explanations and admonitions to the ignorant Africans was most salutary,"* 
although disturbances at the Turks Islands required the sending of troops to 
restore order. At Exuma and Eleuthera petty disorders were soon quieted. At 
Nassau the whites took offense at the proclamation of the Lieutenant-Governor, 
which intimated that it was possible for them to commit acts which would 
deserve punishment, and fifteen out of sixteen copies of the proclamation, posted 
about the city, were torn down within twenty-four hours."* The detachment of 
the second West Indian regiment, which had long been stationed at Nassau, 
was withdrawn during this summer, pending a change in the troops. Their 
absence was an additional reason for apprehension to the people."" The delay 
in the arrival of the special magistrates who were expected with the July mail 
packet was an additional cause of apprehension; "° but as the day of liberation 
approached the people did not become more disorderly, and, as if they ap- 
preciated the meaning of the great event that was taking place, they allowed 
that day to pass quietly, and slavery in the Bahamas passed away forever. 

PERIOD OF THE APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM. 

A New Eegime Instituted. 

In undertaking the great movement for the emancipation of the slaves the 
English people intended to improve the condition of the negroes. The labor- 
ing classes in the English plantations had been in bondage throughout the 
history of those communities. Political rights were denied them, they were 
crowded to the bottom of the social scale, and the proceeds of their labor went 
to nourish and strengthen their masters. From being mere bondsmen they 
had been reduced to the condition of slaves, a very name from which men 
would shrink. The order was now to be changed. A movement began in 
the latter part of the eighteenth century which little by little gained the 
strength necessary to remove these legal discriminations against the negro. 
This movement first accomplished a denial of the right to carry on the traffic in 
African men and women in English territory and waters and on the high seas ; 
after that the amelioration of the condition of the slaves and free negroes in 
the British possessions was undertaken. This latter object was pursued until 
the British Parliament Avas led to the point of dealing decisively with the 

=" Balfour to Stanley, No. 113. 

-'* Loc. cit. 

^'° Loc. cit., No. 115. This withdrawal proved to be only temporary. 

-''' Log. cit. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 493 

slave institution. The slave was now to be given equal rights with his late 
master in every way that the law could define those rights. "The great cardi- 
nal principle of the law for the abolition of slavery," wrote Lord Glenelg in 
1837, " is that the apprenticeship of the emancipated slaves is to be immediately 
followed by personal freedom " in the same way as it applied to the other sub- 
jects of the British- Crown."" The old order in which the slave had rendered 
" implicit obedience " in return for the " maintenance of his life and health "' 
was to be supplanted by one in which the negro could command himself just 
as the white man was doing. 

The apprenticeship system was not forced upon the colonies by the great 
emancipation act. It was left to the Colony either to accept the labor force 
according to such a system, under regulations imposed by Parliament, or to set 
the slaves entirely free, if that were preferred.''" It was wisest for the industrial 
interests of the Colony as well as more profitable for the owners of the slaves to 
accept the apprenticeship system. The status of the apprentices was defined in 
outline by Parliament. The colonial legislatures were allowed to enact such 
supplementary legislation, not repugnant to the abolition act, as was necessary 
for complete regulation of the laborers.^'' The plan of the home government was 
to secure eventual freedom for the entire laboring classes, which state a few in 
the colonies were already enjoying. Before emerging into full freedom, how- 
ever, these ex-slaves were to pass through a term of semi-dependence on their 
late masters during which they were to exercise certain rights of freemen, 
their interests were to be carefully attended to by a corps of special officials 
for the purpose, and the whole period was to be a true apprenticeship to serve 
as a preparation for the responsibilities of freemen, which they were to assume 
at its close. As an additional compensation for the loss of their slaves it was 
arranged that they should serve their former masters to the end of this term.^° 

Classes of Apprentices. 

With the exception of children of a certain age, there were two classes 
of the apprentices, distinguished according to previous occupation, (i) prae- 

^^Ds., S. St., 1837, Circ. of Nov. 6. 

278 jj_ y^ 1834, p. 5. Address of Lieutenant-Governor Balfour to the Assembly. 

"^ Imp. Stats., 3 and 4 William IV, 73, sec. 16. Any improvements the legisla- 
tures might make on the regulations of the imperial statute were to become bind- 
ing on confirmation by the King-in-council. For the colonial act, see 4 Wil- 
liam IV, 21. 

. ^o Imp. Stats., 3 and 4 William IV, 73, sec. 16. 



494 HISTORY 

dials, and (2) non-praedials. The praedial apprentices were those, who as 
slaves had been employed in agriculture or in the manufacture of colonial 
produce.'*' Of this class those employed on lands belonging to their owners 
were designated as praedials attached to the soil/'^ and were not removable from 
the plantations on which they were employed, without the consent of a special 
justice of the peace.^"" Those employed on lands not belonging to their former 
owners became praedials unattached, and were removable at the discretion of 
the employers. All slaves not included in the above description, such as day 
laborers, household servants, skilled artisans, sailors and others became non- 
praedials. °** Children below the age of twelve were excluded from the class 
of praedial apprentices, except those who had been employed in agriculture for 
twelve months previous to the passage of the abolition act.''° The intention 
of Parliament in passing the act had been that the non-praedials 
should be entirely freed after a term of four years, and the praedials 
after six years, thus freeing the colonies of the whole system on August 
1, 1841,''' but at the end of the four-year term of the non-praedials the Colony 
released all its laborers from involuntary servitude, fully accomplishing the 
immediate objects of the friends of the emancipation.^' The Bahama negro 
was now a freeman, which it was the intention of his benefactors in Great 
Britain to make him. But his freedom was abridged in many respects, as we 
shall see, and he was far from being wholly responsible for himself or from 
being thrown upon his own resources. The Secretaries of State for the Col- 
onies were very fond of writing of the negro apprentices as they did of " any 
other freemen," or " any other of His Majesty's subjects." The colonists on 
the other hand were reluctant to admit that the negro was a freeman, or to 
grant him the rights which the home government demanded for him.""" They 

=*^ Imp. Stats., loc. cit., sec. 4. 

"^''Loc. cit. 

=^^5 William IV, 8 (10). 

=**Imp. Stats., 3 and 4 William IV, 73 (4), and Bahama Statutes, 4 Wil- 
liam IV, 21. 

=^^Imp. Stat., 3 and 4 William IV, 73 (4). 

^^' Loc. cit., sees. 5 and 6. This would not have prevented the holding of 
children bound out until they reached the twenty-first year of age, from being held 
after August 1, 1841; nor those under sentence for an extension of the term of 
apprenticeship for attempted desertion or other offense. 

^" On the release of the praedials, see 2 Vic, 1. 

.^''See on this Sess. P., 1835, 50 (part 2), p. 253 (59), Ds. of Secretary Rice to 
Lieutenant-Governor Balfour in which he criticises the auxiliary statute of the 
Bahamas. Also H. V., 1834 (extra session), pp. 103-104, report of House committee 
on the objections to their enactment. See further concessions by the Assembly in 
the statute, 5 William IV, 8. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 495 

regarded him with jealousy, guarded him carefully, denied him^ privileges, 
erected barriers about him, and still preserved towards him that same attitude 
which they had formerly assumed towards their slaves. It was only by that 
persevering attention of the home government, working through the local 
government, that additional guarantees were secured for the benefit of the 
apprentices. 

Legal Status of Apprentices. 

The subject of the legal status of the apprentices will be discussed first 
from the standpoint of the apprentice, and second from the standpoint of the 
employer. Under the first will be considered the rights, privileges, etc., of the 
apprentice in the following order: (a) maintenance, (b) personal rights, 
(c) rights pertaining to contracts, (d) marital and family rights, (e) corporal 
punishment, (f) manumission, (g) other rights. The second division or the 
rights of the employer will be discussed under the following heads: (a) prop- 
erty in the services of the apprentice, (b) right to return runaways, (c) en- 
forcement of obedience, (d) prohibitions on apprentices. Lastly will come the 
question of dealing with children. 

Eights and Privileges of the Apprentice. 

Maintenance. — The apprentice was still dependent on his employer for the 
necessaries of life. The same allowances were required in this respect which 
the slave owners had been required to furnish to their slaves.^" But in this 
system an alternative was provided in that in lieu of provisions and clothing 
the employer could furnish to the apprentice an equivalent in land for culti- 
vation, or in time or money, according to the terms of approved agreements.^""' 
If land was furnished, a portion of the working time of the apprentice, to which 
the employer was otherwise entitled, was placed at the disposal of the former 
for purposes of cultivation. These lands were required to be accessible to the 
laborer's habitation.^^ Apprentices over fifty years of age and those affected 
with bodily infirmities remained as a charge upon their employers, if dis- 
missed from service by an instrument in writing.^^^ 

Personal rights. — The apprentice now came into the life of the Colony with 
many important rights of a freeman. His personality was now recognized in 

''"Imp. Stats., 3 and 4 William IV, 73 (11). 
290 4 William IV, 21. 

=^"1 Imp. Stats., 3 and 4 William IV, 73 (11). 
'"M William IV, 21 (7). 



496 HISTORY 

law, in the courts, and in his relations with his employer, and he was henceforth 
to be considered as a part of the Colony, affected by things undertaken and done 
in the name of the State. He was nominally placed on an equal footing with 
the most privileged persons in the Colony. In practice we shall find that he 
did come into the enjoyment of rights gradually, and that recognition, except 
social, was granted him. He could now hold real and personal property with 
all their attendant rights, and could sue, or be sued, in the courts of law and 
equity.^'" These things were guaranteed and recognized at the beginning of 
the apprenticeship period; some other rights were, however, withheld for a time. 
The legislature persisted in denying them to apprentices and only late in 
the apprenticeship period did it finally grant them. It was thus with the 
right to personal freedom. The auxiliary abolition act bound the apprentice 
to the plantation where he was employed, allowing him to leave it, as of old, 
only with the consent of his master. Even on the disallowance by the British 
Ministry,'" the same provision was reenacted to keep the apprentices on the 
plantations where they belonged,''^ except on holidays and Sundays, when, 
according to superimposed regulation, they were allowed a certain latitude to 
attend religious services.^"' This remained the rule until the year 1837 when 
at last the master's pass card was expressly declared to be no longer necessary 
to enable the apprentice to go freely from place to place at any time " day or 
night, except during the hours of compulsory labor." ^"^ Confinement of ap- 
prentices for safe-custody was limited to cases in which other subjects of the 
Crown could be confined.''^ 

From another important point of view this Colony insisted on further 
restricting personal liberty. There seemed to be a fear that, on the emergence 
of this poor people into the state of freedom, there would be a tendency to 
wanton idleness and mischief -making. Steps were taken to forestall any such 
tendency. A vagrancy law was passed in the year ISSS,'"' when the members of 

2934 William IV, 21. 

=°* Sess. P., 1834, 50 (part 2), p. 253 (59), Ds. of Secretary Rice to Balfour. 

=^^=5 William IV, 8 (8). 

=="=3 and 4 William IV, 73 (21). 

^^^1 Vic, 19 (22). There is reason to believe that this regulation was enforced 
as persistently as its retention on the statute books demanded. There was 
always the fear that the negroes might assemble to concoct dangerous plots, or to 
rise in insurrection, if they were allowed to go as they pleased. There was also 
a desire to have the negroes, whether slaves or apprentices, in their places at all 
times. 

-"^5 William IV, 8 (1). 

^^ 4 William IV, 2, passed Nov. 12, 1833. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 497 

the House had not recovered from their violent state of agitation at the conduct 
of Sir James Smyth, and an amendment was passed in 1835/°° which, taken 
together, formed, in the words of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, " the 
most arbitrary vagrancy law in the West Indies." " Hard labor and imprison- 
ment '' threatened all idle, drunken and disorderly persons, and those who could 
not give account for the correctness of their lives,^"^ and the possession of a kit 
of burglar's tools branded the holder as a rogue or vagabond to be dealt with 
summarily.^"^ It was evidently aimed at the emancipated classes, and the 
Governor was given powers capable of great abuse.^"^ These same acts forbade 
under penalty of five days imprisonment the assembling for " no specific and 
lawful object, loitering and carousing ... in the liquor shops, loud singing or 
whistling, flying kites in or near highways, and calling loudly in the markets 
to attract customers." ^" Apprentices could leave the Colony with the consent 
of the masters, and could secure passports certifying to their identity.^"" 
Rights 'Pertaining to Contracts. — A more liberal spirit was shown in the 
regulations between the employers and apprentices. Every agreement to which 
an apprentice was a party had to be attested by one or more literate witnesses.""" 
This provision seemed not to have operated successfully. It seems probable that 
there was a laxness in securing to the negroes a full understanding of the 
terms of the contracts into which they entered. In 1837 a full understanding 
of all agreements was made necessary to give binding force to contracts with 
apprentices.^"^ The most common form of agreement was that of task work 
which was substituted for the regular labor of the apprentice.^"^ This form of 
contract was employed to some extent from the beginning of the apprenticeship 

^o" 5 William IV, 17, passed Jan. 1, 1835. 

^"^Loc. Git. See also Sess. P., 1836, 15 (appendix), pp. 77-78. 

^"2 5 William IV, 17. 

^"^ Sess. P., loc. cit. Part of the danger in this lay in that when some local 
man became administrator of the government for a time the disposition to apply 
these acts strictly could easily work great wrong. 

^"^See these acts in Sess. P., 1836, 49 (appendix). No. 66. These laws were 
still in force on February 2, 1839. See loc. cit., 1839, 37, p. 487 (17). In a 
despatch of this date from Lord Glenelg to Lieutenant-Governor Cockburn, the 
latter was instructed to press the legislature to repeal them, and meantime to use 
his discretionary powers to mitigate the evils that might result from the applica- 
tion of them. 

305 4 William IV, 21. 

=""= 4 William IV, 21. 

^"'1 William IV, 8 (1). 

^"^ See 4 William IV, 21, on the authorization of this form of agreement. 
32 



498 HISTORY 

sj'stem. It became vei^ popular with both employers and laborers/"* on account 
of its mutually advantageous features. At the end of the apprenticeship system 
many of the laborers were eager to continue in the service of their former 
masters under agreements similar to those under which they worked as appren- 
tices/" based upon the principle of mutual agreement before witnesses. Agree- 
ments or contracts could not in any case be made binding for a longer period 
than twelve months, after the expiration of which period they must be renewed. 
This provision seemed to have been easily enforced, and it became the most sat- 
isfactory and beneficial feature of the whole apprenticeship sA^stem. Its oper- 
ation was subject to some difficulties and disagreements, but it placed a certain 
responsibility upon the negro, to which he responded, and it gave him a recog- 
nition as a person, which encouraged him to rise to meet that responsibility and 
to cope with his circumstances. It allowed the enterprising to gain time to 
utilize for their own purposes; it made it possible for many to bargain for 
their own freedom, and to gain it. After the year 1835 record books were kept 
on each plantation in which were entered records of all agreements entered into 
by apprentices on that plantation. These were entered by a special justice. 
In case of disagreement as to the terms of a contract, it was ascertained whether 
the apprentice fully understood the terms of the agreement before the case was 
decided.^^^ 

In the absence of task-work agreements, the employers were allowed to 
employ their apprentices forty-five hours each week, all work to be done between 
sunrise and sunset on Mondays to Fridays inclusive. Saturdays and Sundays 
were left at the disposal of the apprentices."' Contracts voluntarily entered 
into between employers 'and apprentices, and with the consent of a justice, 
were enforcible in the courts of the Colony under penalties on the violators of 
them."" 

Marital and Family Rights. — Almost the same rights as to marriage and 
family prevailed here as in the latter part of the history of slavery. Some of 
the restrictions of that time were removed. Marriages could now be celebrated 

=«»See reports of the Stipendiary Justices Winder and Hill, from the several 
Out-islands, in Sess. P., 1836, 49, pp. 548-545. Colebrooke's Ds. of Jan. 9, 1836. 

^" Sess. P., 1839, 37, 487 (pp. 12 and 14). Cockburn to Glenelg, Nos. 92 and 99. 

"^5 William IV, 8 (4). 

^^M William IV, 21 (17-19). Also Sess. P., 1839, 37, p. 487 (4), remarks of 
Attorney-General Anderson on the Imperial Act, 1 Vic, 19, amending that of 3 and 
4 William IV, 73. 

"''i William IV, 21. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 499 

by the clergy of all denominations, or by any authority competent to celebrate 
marriages between other free persons/" Other rights and privileges, attendant 
on the marriage bond, were now in the possession of the negroes as with other 
freemen. The separation of husband and wife, or of parents and children, was 
forbidden/" 

Corporal punishment. — Parliament no longer hesitated to declare itself 
as to the flogging of women. The imperial abolition act plainly forbade such 
punishments for the future. The colonists acceded to this provision. ""' Pun- 
ishments of male apprentices were also restricted. Masters applied the lash 
to them only with the consent of a special justice. Other modes of punish- 
ment were recommended. Corporal punishment fell into disfavor, was less 
frequently employed and finally before the end of the apprenticeship period it 
was dispensed with altogether. °" 

Manumission. — Every facility was given to apprentices to become freemen. 
Although the apprenticeship was to continue for the period of four years, 
means were provided by which the apprentices could become free before the 
end of that period, and in some cases even without the consent of their employ- 
ers."* An employer could set his apprentice free by an instrument in writing 
attested before one or more justices of the peace, thus absolving the apprentice 
from obligation for service during the unexpired term of his apprenticeship.'" 
In case of joint ownership of an apprentice, either of the parties entitled to his 
services was competent to make a valid and complete release of the laborer 
from obligation to the joint owners.'^" A negro illegally held as an apprentice 
was authorized to sue for his freedom. On presentation in court of the proof 
of the right to his freedom he could recover nominal damages, in addition to 
wages for the time during which he was illegally held to service. ^'^ 

="5 William IV, 8 (6). See also 4 William IV, 21. 

^"5 William IV, 8 (11). The auxiliary abolition act allowed the separation 
of children over fourteen years of age from their parents. This was repugnant to 
the act of Parliament (sec. 9), and the Secretary of State called attention to the 
fact in his comments on the auxiliary act. Sess. P., 1835, 50 (part 2), 258. The 
Assembly later adopted the improvement suggested by this despatch. 

'^'^See 3 and 4 William IV, 73 (17), of Imp. Stats., and 4 William IV, 21, 
Col. Stats. 

^" Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 532, Colebrooke's report on the apprenticeship system, 
in his despatch of Oct. 8, 1835. Also Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 85. 

=^'Imp. Stats., 3 and 4 William .IV, 73 (8). 

"M William IV, 21. 

^-'' Log. cit., sec. 8. 

■'-' 4 William IV, 21. 



500 HISTORY 

Other Rights. — Apprentices were allowed certain other rights and privi- 
leges of British subjects which had been denied to them as slaves. The same 
spirit on the part of the white inhabitants, that had been shown elsewhere, was 
shown here. Only after attention had been called to the rigidity of these 
restrictions/'^ were they repealed by the Assembly. The auxiliary abolition act 
of the Bahamas disqualified apprentices for jury service, forbade them to serve 
as arbitrators, or on appraisements, or to hold elective or other positions in 
His Majesty's service, whereas the home governmeat had only intended in its 
restrictions to give the apprentices ^' no military or political authority." ^^' 
These restrictions were later removed in the Bahamas. Military service or 
service in any civil capacity, to which the governor might call the negroes, was 
enjoined upon them just as upon other British subjects, provided they did not 
interfere with the performance of services due to the masters.^'* 

Eights of Employee. 

The employers still retained many rights ovei: those who had been their 
slaves. In these relations there Avas an approach to the English system of 
apprenticeship in which a young person was bound out for the purpose of 
learning a trade. The additional restrictions, here due to West Indian race 
prejudice, varied the adaptation of the system to the Colony. Obligations were 
mutual between master and apprentice. The master taught the apprentice a 
trade, which was to the interest of the former as well as of the latter, in return 
for the use of his services for the whole period. We shall now take up the 
relations of employer and laborer from the standpoint of the master. 

Property in the services of the apprentice. — The services of the laborer 
were the property of the master and under certain limitations could be sub- 
jected to any disposition which the employer could make of other property. 
The employer was entitled to the services of the apprentice for forty-five hours 
each week. This rule prevailed in the Bahamas throughout the whole appren- 
ticeship period.^'" There were restrictions on the employment of certain of the 
apprentices during this time. Praedials attached could be removed from 
place to place only with the consent of two or more special justices, even if it 
were for the purpose of working the lands of the same employer.^'^ This kind 

^^^Sess. P., 1835, 50 (part 2), p. 258. 

^=^Sess. P., lac. cit. Also 4 William IV, 21 (sees. 14, 23 and 51). 

3^4 William IV, 8 (12). 

8=^5 William IV, 8 (8). 

^-'^ Log. cit., sec. 10. ■* 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 501 

of removal could not take place when it involved the separation of a laborer 
from his wife^ or of a parent from his children,""' The imperial abolition act 
forbade the removal of apprentices from the Colony without the consent of two 
or more special justices/'^ The services of the apprentice, as property, were 
alienable by sale, gift, deed, or in any other manner of conveyance, but in every 
such case the transfer had to be made under the attestation of one or more 
witnesses. The laborer's services were not transferable at public auction except 
under judicial process, or in case of a judgment for debt against the person 
entitled to them.""' In any such case the separation of families was forbidden, 
or of those reputed to be in such relations to each other."'" A husband became 
entitled to the services of apprentices belonging to the wife previous to mar- 
riage.""' 

Right to return runaways. — Runaways and deserting apprentices were to 
be returned again to service. An apprentice being absent from service for 
seven and a half hours in any one week could be declared a deserter. He thus 
became liable to a penalty of hard labor for one week; for an absence of two 
days the penalty was two weeks of confinement, and fifteen lashes, and for an 
absence of a week, one month of hard labor and thirty lashes.''' But in lieu of 
or in addition to these punishments, vagabonds and runaways, and others un- 
faithful to their obligations, except those working under pecuniary contracts, 
were punishable by additions to time. These additions were limited to fifteen 
hours in any one week. Deserters absenting themselves for any considerable 
length of time could be punished and the employers remunerated by additions 
to their term of service equivalent to the time during which they were absent.''" 
These additions to time could not in any case be extended so that serving out 
the penalty would continue beyond August 1, 1841, one year after the expira- 
tion of the term of the praedials."* On the whole there were not many offenses 
involving additions to time as the penalty."^ 

^"^ hoc. cit. 

'^Imp. Stats., 3 and 4 William IV, 73 (9). 

^^' 5 William IV, 8 (11), and 4 William IV, 21. 

3304 William IV, 21. 

^" hoc. cit. 

5^' 4 William IV, 21. 

^^^ Log. cit. 

=^*Imp. Stats., 3 and 4 William IV, 73 (20). 

^'' In one case a penalty of ten months' extension of the term was added for an 
absence from service for that length of time. The Secretary of State for the 
Colonies was much concerned about it, but withdrew the objection to the extreme 
penalty on being informed of the facts of the case. Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 537, Ds., 
Colebrooke to Glenelg and reply. 



502 HISTORY 

Enforcement of obedience. — The employer had the same right to require 
obedience to his commands that he had had under the old slave system, and in 
case of resistance to apply to a special justice to supervise the infliction of the 
penalties. There was for a time a disposition on the part of the masters to 
regard the apprentices in the same light as they had their late slaves, as 
if they would have recognized no changes in the relations between the two 
classes. These self-deluded individuals were soon undeceived as to the ability 
of a new judiciary to deal with such matters, and to effect a real as well as a 
nominal change in relations. The Bahama auxiliary abolition act authorized 
masters to punish boys under fourteen and girls under twelve years of age as 
parents and guardians were accustomed to punish children in the mother 
country.""^" Evasive provision — Secretary Eice asked for its repeal, which was 
accordingly granted in 1835.'''^^ Indolence, drunkenness, fighting, and other 
such conduct, were punishable on complaint by the employer and conviction 
before a special justice of the peace.'^' 

Prohibitions on apprentices. — Api^rentices were not allowed to leave the 
plantations on which they were emplo3'ed during working hours without the 
consent of the masters."''^' ' Another prohibition on apprentices, which was also 
disallowed by the King, was to the effect of forbidding the production by them 
of things that were produced upon the ^Dlantations where they were employed.^'" 
It was also unlawful for an apprentice to bear arms without the consent of his 
master.''^ 

Children. — Persons entitled to the service of the mother of a child could 
not be compelled to accept the latter as an apprentice in virtue of its relation 
to its mother. Such children not apprenticed were supported by their parents 
if not otherwise provided for."" Children under six years of age, born after 
August 1, 1834, if not adequately provided for, could be bound out by special 
justices to the persons in each case entitled to the services of their mothers for 

33S4 William IV, 21 (48). 

==■^5 William IV, 8 (13). 

838 4 William IV, 21. 

^^^ Lac. cit. Secretary Rice objected to this and the King disallowed it, but it 
was renewed by the Colonial Statute, 5 William IV, 8 (8). 

'^"Sess. P., 1835, 50 (part 2), 516. Copy of the Order-in-council dating July 31, 
1835, which disallowed the above mentioned section of the Colonial act, 4 Wil- 
liam IV, 21. 

^" Lac. cit. This prohibition included swords, fire-arms and gun-powder, any 
of which any master was authorized to seize, if found unaccountably in the posses- 
sion of an apprentice. 

=="' 4 William IV, 21. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 503. 

terms of service extending to the twenty-first year of age.^'^ In such apprentice- 
ship time and opportunities were to be given for proper education and religious 
instruction/" 

The Special Magistracy. 

The home government determined not to make the application of the 
regulations in the new system dependent upon the Colony. There had already 
been too much experience of the reluctance of the West Indian Englishman to 
grant expressly acknowledged rights to the negro to trust him with the appli- 
cation of the new regulations. There was nothing to warrant a continued 
faith in the disposition of the late slaveholder to treat his apprentice with 
impartiality under a new system of regulations which granted extended liber- 
ties to the latter. A special magistracy was erected for the application of the 
regulations of the new system. The magistrates were appointees of and were 
commissioned by the CroAvn. There were twenty of these magistrates for the 
whole of the West Indies, three of whom were at first allotted to the Bahamas.""' 
The colonial legislatures were allowed to authorize the appointment of any 
number of special justices, to be specially commissioned by the governors and 
paid by the colonies.""" The Bahamas employed fourteen of these justices dur- 
ing the first year of the apprenticeship system.'" 

All these magistrates bore special commissions under which they were 
authorized to deal solely with the masters and servants as freemen, in the new 

=" All such apprentices were freed by the cancellation of the indentures of all 
Africans in the Colony after the release of the apprentices in 1838. See next 
section. 

"*Imp. Stats., 3 and 4 William IV, 73 (13). 

2*° Imp. Stats., 3 and 4 William IV, 73 (14-15), and Balfour to Stanley, 
No. 108. 

^^^ Imp. Stats., loc. cit., sec. 14. 

3« 4 William IV, 42. The legislature not being in session at a convenient time, 
Lieutenant-Governor Balfour called a meeting of the Council and made an arrange- 
ment by which seventeen persons were asked to act in the capacity of special 
justices without further promise of remuneration than that the question of paying 
them for their services would be laid before the legislature at its next session. It 
was not desirable to be forced to the adoption of such an alternative, but owing to 
the conditions existing in the Bahamas, it was not possible to serve the whole 
Colony adequately with only three justices. To relieve the embarrassment it was 
necessary to accept the lesser of the two evils and to set up an unsatisfactory 
magistracy rather than to do without. Something had to be done to institute the 
new system in all parts of the Colony, and to prevent lawlessness. Otherwise the 
masters might have been driven to resort to a complete emancipation of their 
apprentices. Balfour to Stanley, No. 108. 



504 HISTORY 

relations into which they had entered. Over these they were given exclusive 
Jurisdiction."'" The individuals bearing these commissions were not;, however, 
forbidden to bear commissions as general justices of the peace/'* in which 
capacity the governors availed of the services of some of them as long as they 
were in the Colony .''° The duties of these justices were narrowed down to 
the regulations of the relations between the employers and employees, and 
were kept distinct from the duties of general justices of the peace. In some 
petty offenses there was concurrent jurisdiction of special and general justices, 
but only a special justice could take cognizance of offenses of employer against 
employee, and vice versa.'" Outside of this the general justices could act, 
under ordinary circumstances, in suppressing disorder and misconduct that 
had a tendency to breach of the peace.'°^ 

Tor purposes of administration the Colony was divided into seven dis- 
tricts."^' In each of these districts one or more' special justices was to reside 
and make periodical visits to all the settlements within its limits."^* Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Balfour located the three English justices, who came at first, 
in places from which they could visit all parts of the Colony. One was placed 
at New Providence, another at Eleuthera and a third at the Turks Islands.''^'' 
The local justices, as distinguished from the English justices, were generally 
resident proprietors or overseers in the islands over which they had juris- 
diction."'" This arrangement was destined to continue in full force only until 
March of 1835, the time of the coming of William Colebrooke, the suc- 
cessor of Balfour in the Bahama government. Under this first arrangement 
nothing of importance was accomplished in adapting the apprenticeship system 
to the requirements of the Bahama Islands. The reasons for this and the 
reforms which were finally introduced will be discussed in the following section. 



=*^Imp. Stats., 3 and 4 William IV, 73 (18-19). 

^^Loc. cit., sec. 11. 

='=° See e. g., Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 512, instructions of the Secretary of State. 

'" Log. cit., p. 519, also p. 517, circular instructions to the magistrates. 

^^^ hoc. cit. 

353 4 William IV, 42. This statute gives the districting of the Colony as 
follows: 1. Turks and Caicos Islands, Inagua and Mayaguana; 2. Crooked and 
Acklin Islands and Cays; 3. Rum Cay, Watlings Island and San Salvador; 4. 
Eleuthera and Harbor Island and Cays; 5. Exuma and Cays, Long Island, Ragged 
Island and Cays; 6. Abaco, Grand Bahama and Cays; 7. New Providence, Andros, 
the Berry Islands and Cays. 

'^'^Loc. cit. 

^^^ Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 9. 

'^^^ hoc. cit. 



the bahama islands 505 

Eeforms in the Magisteacy. 

This system as instituted with the local justices did not continue long, 
but it had done harm to the cause of reform. Colonel Colebrooke came in 
March, 1835, and in his first despatch on the magisterial system he pointed out 
defects which were demanding remedy. Prom reports of the magistrates he 
found out that the expense of the existing system was too great, that many 
settlements on the Out-islands were not being visited often enough, and that 
the salaries of the magistrates were not large enough to maintain those officials 
as they should have been.^^ A little later he discovered also that the local 
justices were altogether incompetent to perform the duties required of them.^^* 
Wherever the English justices had gone in the Out-islands the effect of their 
visitations was altogether salutary. Disorders were suppressed, quiet was 
restored, and the spirit of insubordination that had prevailed in some places 
was calmed.^^^ It was, however, physically impossible for them to make the 
tour of all the Out-islands in any reasonable period of time, and the exposure 
to heat and rain was so great as to incapacitate them, in a large measure, for 
their work. The local justices had, on the other hand, generally failed to keep 
the peace, or even to gain the confidence of either negroes or whites ; ^°° they had 
too often neglected their duties in their districts and had punished offenses 
severely and indiscriminately with the result that harmonious relations between 
the classes were not promoted or encouraged.^" The calls from the Out- 
islands for the stipendiary justices continued to increase, and it was imperative 
that some one should be sent to them to adjust matters between the employers 
and their men.^°^ 

Lieutenant-Governor Colebrooke determined upon a reformation of the 
whole magisterial system. He applied to the home government to send out as 
many more of the special justices as possible, urging that any number of them, 
hoAvever small, would aid in the restoration of order. The House of Assembly 
concurred with him in the necessity of securing, by some means, a more efficient 
service from the magistracy, and on the recommendation of the executive voted 
to change the whole plan to that of a system of circuits. The cost of 
this promised to be less than that of the system then in operation. It also 

'^^ Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 9. 

^"■^Loc. cit., No. 60. 

==^»H. v., 1834-35, p. 184; also Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 53. 

^•^^ Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 22. 

^''- hoc. cit., No. 60, Aug., 1835. 

^"^H. v., 1834-35, p. 184. 



506 HISTORY 

gave such promise of improved service that a termination of the prevailing 
irregularities seemed almost in view. The change was accomplished within 
three months after the arrival at Kassau of Colonel Colebrooke/" The As- 
sembly authorized the Lieutenant-Governor with the consent of his Council to 
divert the funds, that had been applied to the local magistracies, to the support 
of the circuits under the new system/" The salaries of the local justices were 
discontinued in April, 1835.^'^^ In June, 1835, the Secretary of State for the 
Colonies sent out an instruction, to the effect that the commissions of all 
magistrates who were pecuniarily interested in apprenticed labor should be 
revoked, and that the number of those who had been habitually resident in the 
colonial society should be reduced as low as was consistent with the 
due execution of the law, stating that it was inconsistent with the intentions of 
Parliament that the powers of a special justice should long continue to be 
exercised by any such person.''" Before December, 1835, eighteen of these 
justices had resigned, or had been removed, fifteen of whom seemed to have been 
removed under the order of the circular referred to.^" The Lieutenant-Governor 
ordered the ordinary justices of the peace to make certain visits in their dis- 
tricts and to quell disorders, though without power to enforce the abolition 
laws.^''^ The Secretary of State was unable in the fall of 1835 to obtain from 
Parliament a grant for an additional number of magistrates for the Bahamas, 
but he authorized the Marquis of Sligo at Jamaica to transfer one special 
justice from that Colony to the Bahamas as soon as the service there would 
permit.'"^ In October, 1835, he did secure from Parliament provision whereby 
he was able to send to the Bahamas two more special justices. These were 
rendered necessary, as we have seen, by the revocation of the commissions of the 

'"' Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 22. All the settlements were not in such, a 
st^te of disorder as has been stated of some of them. At Eleuthera the magistrates' 
constables had succeeded in keeping a certain measure of good order, loc. cit. 
Two magistrates and a detachment of troops were sent to Exuma where the in- 
subordinate laborers of Lord Rolle had refused to work, H. V., 1834-35, 184. Both 
of these places had grown quiet by the latter part of August, 1835, Colebrooke to 
Glenelg, No. 86. 

'" Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 36. 

3'=''Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 514. Circular of Col. Secretary Nesbitt to the Local 
Magistrates. 

^^° Circular instruction to the governors of the colonies, dating June 15, 1835. 
See H. v., 1835-6, p. 29. 

^" Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 539, end. 1, in Ds., No. 499. 

^^ Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 94. 

=^« Sess. P., 1836, 49, pp. 506-7, Ds. of May, 1835. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 507 

local justices."" Thus was the magisterial establishment cleared of the dead 
weight of incompetent justices and placed on the basis on which it remained 
throughout the remainder of the apprenticeship period. From this time 
forward, all the reports on its operations were almost without exception favor- 
able to its efficiency and its competency to deal with the problem of apprentice 
labor in this Colony. The difficulty from the beginning had been that on ac- 
count of the lack of training in the performance of judicial functions, and from 
identification with local interests, the local magistrates were incapable of 
performing these peculiar magisterial duties. They were never able to com- 
mand the respect and the confidence of the employers or the apprentices. Upon 
these officers depended in great part the success of the system by which the 
great body of ex-slaves were being educated for the state of freedom. To their 
disinterestedness, their impartiality, their devotion to duty, and their general 
efficiency was due the harmonizing of the jarring elements, the preservation of 
peace, and the prevention of injustice, discontent, disorder, and lawlessness 
throughout the Colony. 

Duties of Special Magistrates. 

It was the duty of these magistrates to adjust the disturbed colonial 
society to the new relations into which its people were entering, and to assist 
the classes in every Avay to live up to the regulations imposed on them. The 
white inhabitant, accustomed to a regime in which implicit obedience to his 
command was the rule, was unwilling to give cognizance to the changed rela- 
tions in which the late slave was to have partial command of himself; on the 
other hand the apprentice was fearful for a time that this change to apprentice- 
ship was not what the King had intended to grant him, and that the local gov- 
ernment had leagued itself with the late slave-masters to deprive him of the 
boon of immediate and complete freedom. Everywhere the magistrates visited, 
the first and most important duty was to explain the nature of the new relations 
and to set matters to rights between the masters and the apprentices."' There 
were in many parts absurd conceptions of what the new relations amounted to. 
This fact was due in no small degree to the prevailing irregularities.'" The 
local justices added to, not lessened, the confusion."' The officials strove to 
impress on all classes that the changed conditions were merely a preparation 

^'"> Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 516, Ds. of Lord Glenelg. 

^'1 Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 532, circular instructions to the special justices. 

^'"Loc. cit. 

^" Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 60. 



508 HISTOKY 

for further changes in society, that they ought to strictly obey the reciprocal 
obligations imposed on them, and that their cooperation was necessary to secure 
the most benefit to themselves/'* and further ^'^to impress on all parties that 
the term of apprenticeship was one of probation in which they were to be 
gradually prepared for the new relations in which they would ultimately stand 
to each other, and that the best preparation for the change would be a strict 
observance of the law and the obligations it had imposed." "° They heard com- 
plaints of employers and employees, settled disputes and adjusted differences, 
the neglect of which might have led to more serious disturbances.^'" They had 
authority to judge of the point at issue in dispute, between employer and em- 
ployee, in case of the failure of the parties to agree.*" These things they did 
with results that were most gratifying to those interested in the success of "the 
change in progress.^^* They quieted the misapprehensions of all parties, re- 
stored order, and won the confidence of the .people.*" To keep the peace and 
quell incipient disorders, jails and places of confinement had to be erected. As 
hard labor was much employed as a form of punishment, work-houses were to be 
supplied. The special justices cooperated with the rate payers in providing 
funds to pay the cost of materials and of work on these buildings. They ap- 
pointed constables in every district, who made monthly circuits, received com- 
plaints and kept journals of them. These constables were empowered, ia 
extreme cases, to send offenders to JSTassau during the intervals between the visits 
of the special magistrates. Ordinarily these constables were called on to act 
only when the justices came. They acted for the most part as advisers to 
apprentices.**" The magistrates made sketches and surveys of lands in the 
Out-islands, took account of any features of soil, etc., that might conduce to the 
formation of settlements. They were members of the school commission and 
visitors of the public schools. They aided the out-lying communities in erect- 
ing school houses and in providing means of education.***^ 

Lieutenant-Governor Colebrooke rightly judged that the special justices 
on their tours Avould collect much information as to the actual condition of 
things in the Colony, by which information he could profit in making more 

"'^ Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 513, instructions to magistrates. 

='=H. v., 1834-35, p. 190. 

=•'' Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 122, Dec, 1833. 

"^ Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 532. 

''' H. v., 1834-35, p. 184 ff. . ■ 

"* Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 53. 

^'^''Sess. P., 1836, 49, pp. 512-14._ 

^'^ Loc. cit., pp. 512-13, and 543-45. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 509 

efficient the magisterial system, and by working through it the government 
would be enabled to act with more confidence, concerting measures for the 
general improvement.'^^ Much information was thus collected and reported 
by these officers. Another duty that became increasingly important with the 
passing of time was that of the supervision of voluntary agreements between 
employers and apprentices. In all cases in which the parties could agree on 
specific terms such agreements were encouraged. In this respect especially 
did the special justices act as a safeguard to the interests of the apprentices. 
It was found that voluntary engagements for task work, or otherwise, called 
forth in the best manner the dormant energies of the negroes and encouraged 
industrious habits in them. All such agreements had to be voluntary on the 
part of the apprentices in order to be binding. The special justices were 
enjoined to see that the terms of all agreements were not unreasonable and that 
they were fully understood by the negroes, dealing with all parties as f reemen.^'^ 
In all things they were urged to use their moral influence to gain the confidence 
of the people and to promote peaceful interests."*^ They had the power in this, 
as in other things, to impose, penalties on both employers and employees, in 
order to enforce compliance with the regulations in the abolition laws. 

In addition to these regular duties there arose from time to time special 
duties which it was convenient to have these officers perform. One of these 
was that of their assistance in the summer of 1835 in the reclassification of 
the apprentices. This was necessitated by the habit prevailing in many parts 
of employing praedial apprentices as if they were non-praedials. As the non- 
praedials were to be freed on the first of August, 1838, a confusion might have 
resulted as to who were, and who were not, non-praedials. It was necessary to 
keep the classes of apprentices carefully distinguished. Many of the praedials 
as Avell as non-praedials were eager to redeem the unexpired portion of their 
apprenticeship.'^^ 

Operations oe Appebnticeship System. 

As far as this Colony was concerned the British Ministry was not mistaken 
as to the probable results of the establishment of the special magistracy. The 
English justices accepted -the responsibility that awaited them and established 
order. They secured such mutual good imderstanding that disquietude and 

^^^ Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 69. 
3^ Sess. P., 1836, 49, pp. 534-5. 
^^LoG. cit., p. 517. 
^^' Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 36. 



510 HISTORY 

discontent became exceptional. In fact nearly eA-ery rejDort that came in after 
the first circuits were made gave the intelligence that all classes evinced a dis- 
position to be peaceable/^' 

The able manner in Avhich the English justices disposed of complaints and 
settled difficulties gave the people renewed confidence in them. Contentment 
with existing relations and a desire to make the best of them Avere to be seen 
on every hand. This aided the magistrates so much that less difficulty Avas 
experienced in disposing of complaints with each successive visit. This tended 
to lessen the necessity of the frequency in the visitation of the magistrates.^" 
The sympathetic cooperation of both employers and employees seemed to have 
been enlisted in keeping the peace and in promoting harmony — convincing 
evidence of the impartiality of the conduct of the officials.''" At Exuma before 
August, 1835, some of the employers Avere little disposed to promote the 
interests of apprentices, but expected the same requirements from them as 
Avhen they Avere slaves, and did not acknoAAdedge the existence of the new 
relations.""" Another report from the same island in Januar}^, 1836, noted 
great improvements, both employers and laborers being much better satisfied.'"* 
The employers Avere generally found to be of liberal disposition. This, together 
with the confidence of the apprentices that the magistrates Avould safeguard 
their interests, aided in securing punctuality in the performance of engage- 
ments."'^ Masters were mindful of the position in AAdiich the laborers were 
placed. The latter responded appreciatively to the kindly treatment accorded 
to them. Both came to realize that their individual interests depended on 
mutual good feeling.'"' All this became the subject of remark by the Executive 
on every occasion. 

Perhaps the most beneficial feature of the apprenticeship system Avas that 
of the voluntary agreements betAveen employers and apprentices. After the 

^^^ See following references for these favorable reports: Sess. P., 1836, 49, pp. 
524-31 (Aug., 1835) ; loc. cit., pp. 543-5 (Jan., 1836), report of the circuit in the latter 
part of 1835; loc. cit., 1839, 37, p. 487 (12), (Aug., 1838); see also Colebrooke to 
Glenelg, No. 122 (Dec, 1835) ; No. 94 (Oct., 1835) ; No. 50 (May, 1836) ; Cockburn to 
Glenelg, No. 3 (Sept., 1837); and No. 56 (Feb. 1838); also H. V., 1835-6, p. 2 
(Dec, 1834). 

"*' Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 86. 

'^« Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 122. 

°^^ Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 522, report of special justices. 

^^Loc. cit., 543. 

^"^Loc. cit., p. 532. 

="•^11. v., 1835-6, pp. 73-79. Message of the Lieutenant-Governor transmitting 
reports of the special justices. Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 545. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 511 

first experiment Avith them had proved their usefulness, they came rapidly into 
favor and increased in popularity up to the close of the apprenticeship period. 
They secured to the master a more punctual performance of the laborer's 
obligation to him, and on the other hand appealed to the best there was in the 
negro to bear responsibilities voluntarily assumed. Both parties preferred 
them. To them was due much of the good feeling that existed between the 
classes after the summer of 1835.'"' Praedials as well as non-praedials were 
employed in this way."'* Complaints to the magistrates were less frequent 
where agreements were most common.'^' The use of them spread rapidly to all 
parts of the Colony, as sobn as the intelligence of their beneficent results was 
carried to the Out-islands.^^^ 

In his instructions to the magistrates in September, 1825, Lieutenant- 
Governor Colebrooke urged as a leading object of the circuits that they should 
encourage voluntary agreements with specific terms. They were not to allow 
agreements whose terms were not equitable. It seemed desirable to reserve 
tAvo days in each week to the laborer for the purpose of obtaining food and 
clothing for himself.'"' At New Providence voluntary contracts were entered 
into, during the autumn of 1835; at Eleuthera at the same time nearly all the 
proprietors had formed agreements to furnish time and land to the apprentices 
in lieu of food and clothing."^ By January of the following year agreements 
were being successfully employed at Eagged Island, and the laborers there 
were being paid annual Avages for Avork on the salt ponds on Saturdays ; Rum 
Cay was also employing them."" Where this plan Avas not followed the com- 
plaints from all parties Avere multiplied and the visits of the magistrates were 
attended Avith less benefit to the community.'"" Prosperity attended them, and 
especially did they enjoy peace, a blessing which the Bahamas had hardly 
known for tAventy years. The difficulty of disposing of their produce alone 
hampered their prosperity.*"^ 

Another form of engagement Avas that by Avhich the apprentice bargained 

^^^ Colebrooke to Glenelg, Nos. 94 and_95. 

^^* Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 36. 

^^' Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 95. 

^"^ Sess. P., 1836, 49, pp. 530-31, report of S. Js. Winder and Munro. 

^" Log. cit., pp. 534-5, instructions to the special justices. 

^°* Loc. cit., pp. 524-31, enclosure No. 3. 

'"^I/OC. cit., pp. 543-5. 

^™ Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 85, Oct., 1835. 

""■ H. v., 1835-6, pp. 73-79. Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 545. 



513 HISTORY 

to absolve his obligation to bis master for a stipulated consideration/"' A 
number of others were released for no pecuniary consideration. 

Just before the close of the apprenticeship period, Parliament amended its 
abolition act with a statute regulating the labor of apprentices/"^ It enjoined 
certain duties on the emplo3'ers, gave the governors of colonies additional 
powers of control of apprentices, and gave the latter a number of additional 
privileges and exemptions. It was of no considerable importance in this 
Colony, having been declared in force on May 39, 1838, only two months before 
the laborers, praedials as well as non-praedials, were finally set free. It might 
have borne some fruit in vexing the masters in this Golony. As it was, perhaps 
its principal result was in helping to induce the local Assembly to enact a law 
releasing the praedials from the unexpired portion of their term of apprentice- 
ship. 

Complaints. 

The complaints made by the employers and apprentices were mostly of a 
trivial nature. They were much more frequent at the beginning than after 
the magistrates had completed the first visitations to all parts of the Colony. 
They became less and less frequent with each successive tour.'°^ As has been 
stated the formation of voluntary engagements tended greatly to lessen the 
number of complaints,'"" and the arbitration of difficulties was successful and 
satisfactory to all."* 

Punishments. 

The special magistrates had the power to require obedience to engage- 
ments, and good conduct on the part of all by the infliction of penalties on 
offenders. The mind naturally reverts to the lash when penalties are men- 
tioned in this connection. We have seen that Parliament prohibited its use for 
women in the abolition act. It went out of use also for male servants. Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Colebrooke soon. after his arrival ordered a gradual discontinu- 
ance of its use as a stimulus to labor, and the substitution for it of other modes 

^"^ The total number of instances of this up to Sept., 1835, was 81; the total 
amount paid for these was £1215 9 s. or a little more than £15 each. Those 
voluntarily released without compensation during the same period numbered 688; 
293 being males and 395 females. 

'"^ Imp. Stats., 1 Vic, 19. 

^"^ Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 532. Also pp. 543-5, on report of circuit, especially that 
referring to Cat Island and Rum Cay. 

■"■^ Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 95. 

*"' Sess. P., 1836, 49, pp. 524-31, No. 3. ' 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 513 

of punishment/"" The substitutes that were most satisfactory were hard labor 
in the work house and extensions of time. Fines were employed to some extent 
and were redeemable by hard labor/"' The efficacy of hard labor as a means of 
punishment was early demonstrated by its employment in the work house at 
Nassau. Colebrooke soon recommended it in other places, as a means of 
building the much needed gaols.'°° Stocks were used in some places with good 
effect. The usual labor for women was grinding corn or picking cotton."" To- 
wards the close of the apprenticeship period the reports showed marked improve- 
ment, by the great reduction in the nuinber of penalties imposed.' jThe magis- 
trates had taken things in hand, and the results of their labors afe'shown in the 
reports they made for the district of ISTew Providence, during the last month 
of the application of the regulations of apprenticeship, viz. : July, 1838, Special 
Justice Winder gave the report that there was not one case requiring the inflic- 
tion of a penalty on either employer or apprentice,"^ a report that was -unpre- 
cedented for that populous district. 

Colonel Colebrooke was careful to make known in all parts of the Colony 
what was occurring in the more peaceful communities. For a time the ignor- 
ance as to this, prevailing even at the capital, worked unfavorably to improve- 
ment. The head of the government was on the alert on every occasion to 
make known the favorable condition of affairs. The Nassau people were for 
a time not disposed to believe that such success, as was reported, was being met 
with in the Out-islands. The reports were almost uniformly favorable. The 
dissemination of this intelligence excited the people to emulate the example of 

*"^ Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 95. 

^"^Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 531, return for the period July 31, 1834, to October 1, 
1835. Total number of apprentices, 10,400; punishments by authority of S. Js., 
768; employers' fines, amount £124 8 s. 6d.; male apprentices whipped, 169; female 
punishments, 286. Two hundred and seventy-two of these punishments were in- 
flicted at New Providence, and 246 at the Turks Island. Loc. cit., end.. No. 3. 
The greater number of punishments at New Providence and the Turks Islands was 
explained by the fact that fishermen and others resorted to these places from other 
parts, and many offenders were brought to them to be punished. In some islands 
the offices were open every day to settle disputes, and punishments were fewer in 
them on that account. 

*°= Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 532, and pp. 543-5. 

"° The most extreme penalty reported was that of a male apprentice named 
Sam, bound to one Durham, at the Bluff Settlement on Bleuthera. He ran away. 
A magistrate and three constables advised him to return to service. He refused to 
return, set the law at defiance, worked on the King's land, and lived with another 
runaway named Tulip. He was absent for ten months. He admitted all charges 
and begged for mercy. His penalty was one month's hard labor, thirty lashes and 
ten months' extension of his term. Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 537. 

^^ Sess. P., 1839, 37, p. 487 (12). 
33 



514 HISTORY 

those who were peaceably disposed^ in seconding the measures of the govern- 
ment. The effect of it in all parts was salutary/" 

EeFORM in the GrENERAL CoURT. 

x4t the same time that the reform was taking place in the special magis- 
tracy, there was seen to he a need of reform in the General Court. The slave 
court of the old regime had passed out of existence. The business of the 
whole Colony of freemen now fell upon the General Court. Its business was 
increased to such an extent that in its then present condition it was unable to 
meet the needs of the Colony."^ The Assembly authorized it to hold four 
sessions in the year but that had not sufficed to care for all the business that 
came to it."* Complaints also came up from Turks Islands, a disaffected 
community 500 miles away from the capital, of the inconvenience to their 
people of the service rendered by the General Court. These people had to bring 
all cases that were not tried in the Justice's court to Nassau for trial. Com- 
munication with the capital was always infrequent, always attended with diffi- 
culties and beset with dangers from ocean currents and jutting rocks. The 
expense of carrying a case to Nassau was too great for the people to bear. 
For ordinary cases of robbery or larceny it was unreasonable."^ A journey from 
New York to Liverpool and back was attended with no less hardship and 
inconvenience than one from Turks Islands to Nassau and return. 

As in the case of the special magistracy, Lieutenant-Governor Colebrooke 
conceived the idea of establishing circuits for the justices of this court. As- 
sizes would thus be held in all the larger Out-islands. With the concurrence 
of the Secretary of State he recommended it to the legislature. His plan 
carried,"" and a little later the Assembly made provision for tlie traveling 
expenses of the justices."' According to the arrangement, instituted circuits 
were made twice annually to all the more important islands. These circuits 
Avere as follows: 1, the western, including the Berry Islands, the Biminis, 
Andros, Abaco, Grand Bahama, and Harbor Island; 2, the middle, including 

"= Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 94. 

"' Colebrooke to Aberdeen, Nos. 32 and 35. 

"* Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 112 (1885). 

"^See Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 17 (1836). 

"''See 5 William IV, 7. 

"'Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 45. 



•THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 515 

Eleuthera^ Long Island, Eum Cay, Exuma, San Salvador, Watlings and Eagged 
Island; 3, tlie eastern, including the Turks and Caicos Islands and Inagua."' 

Captives from Slave Ships. 

A class of persons that caused much anxiety to Lieutenant-Governor 
Colebrooke was that of the captives from slave-trading vessels. A number of 
these vessels continued to be brought to the port of Nassau by the wreckers, and 
by vessels of the royal navy which constantly patrolled the adjacent waters in 
search of slavers. Colebrooke was zealous to make a drastic crusade against 
this commerce/" but was never able to accomplish more than to add the in- 
formation that came to his hand from the small Colony in which he was located. 
He had to be content in his small sphere here with dealing with those captives 
who were actually brought into the Bahamas. His predecessor had recom- 
mended that they should be sent to Trinidad where there was a demand for them 
as laborers, and where they would still have the advantage of British regulations. 
There was almost no regular employment for any considerable number of them 
in the Bahamas except in the raking of salt. In this hard labor there was little 
opportunity for self -improvement, or for learning the English tongue, Avhich 
was considered very important. The cruelties practiced by the overseers of 
the salt-rakers were such that it did not seem desirable to consign these poor 
people to that employment."" In June and September, 1834, two large cargoes 
of captives were brought into port. Fortunately there was a demand for the 
services of these Africans among the people of New Providence Island. They 
were apprenticed for a term of seven years. Their employers were bound 
to support them, to teach them to Avork, and to provide adequate instruction for 
them."^ It Avas on the coming of these vessels that Balfour made the recom- 

"' Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 110. Chief Justice Munnings had grown old and 
had often within the last few years been a disturber in the Privy Council of the 
Colony. The failure to secure a promotion for him outside of the Bahamas made 
him the more discontented. But during the administration of Colebrooke, he 
departed with his family for a visit to England. The vessel in which he sailed 
was lost at sea. It was neA'^er heard from after its departure from one of the 
eastern islands of the Bahamas. Assistant Justice John C. Lees became his suc- 
cessor. Colebrooke attempted to have him removed to some other colony. But 
after a report by him on a circuit to the Out-islands, he recommended him for the 
Chief Justiceship of the Bahamas, to which he succeeded on the death of Chief 
Justice Munnings. Colebrooke to Aberdeen, Nos. 32 and 99 (1835). 

"^ See his Ds., No. 48, to Aberdeen. 

'"» Balfour to Rice, No. 5. 

^'^Loc. cit. 



516 HISTORY 

mendation to tlie home government to send any others that came to the 
Bahamas to the colony of Trinidad. 

On the arrival of William Colebrooke in the following year (1835), the 
policy of the local government and its recommendations as to the captives was 
entirely changed. The new Executive saw throughout the Bahamas large tracts 
of unoccupied lands (he knew not how unproductive they were) and imagined 
that they would be suitable for settlements of captive Africans. He attended 
an inspection of a settlement of these captives soon after his ai-rival in the 
Colony/^' and found out that they were healthy and Avell provided for. He 
determined at once to secure as many of these Africans as possible, to have them 
sent hither from other colonies, if necessary, and to settle them on this vacant 
Crown property where, he hastily concluded, they could soon provide for them- 
selves after a kindly paternal assistance from the government.^'^ Thus would 
he build up a new class of subjects of his sovereign. He adhered to his hasty 
conclusions in the face of the decline, under his very eyes, of the settlements at 
Adelaide and Carmichael, on Kew Providence Island. He attributed the 
failure of these two settlements, to the incapacity of the superintendents.'"* 
Here William Colebrooke would have erected a refuge for unfortunate Africans 
captured by slave hunters, all unaware that starvation threatened those who 
attempted to live on these barren lands. He wished also to have here an 
asylum for decrepit and discharged soldiers, from the West Indian regiments 
of the British empire."^ But he was unable to convince the Colonial Secre- 
tary of State of the soundness of his views in this respect.""" 

The plan suggested by Colebrooke was to settle these ignorant black men 
in close settlements on the Out-islands, apparently unthoughtful of the meager 
refining influences that existed even in the better populated parts of the Colony. 
Lord Glenelg could not consent to the formation of -such settlements where men 
would not learn the English tongue, nor imbibe English democratic ideas, nor 
become attached to the British Crown. Colebrooke admitted the desirability of 
these things but still hoped to win favor for his project. He desired to have 
the captives brought into the Colony and apprenticed to the inhabitants. He 

^22 Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 13. 

*^ Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 18 and No. 51. 

*^* Loc. cit., No. 41. He was persuaded that they ought to be able to subsist 
themselves in such settlements by their own labor. Much work had been done in 
these two places under the direction of Sir James Smyth to make them desirable 
places for residence. 

*^'Loc. cit., No. 51. 

"^''Ds., S. St., 1836, No. 86. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 517 

argued that the Bahama apprentices were the most intelligent and the furthest 
advanced morally of those in any British West Indian colony/" He labored 
to prove that the negroes Avould be more favorably situated in the Bahamas 
than in Trinidad, arguing that there was an increased demand for them as salt- 
rakers and in loading vessels at good wages ; "^ that the environment was better 
in the Bahamas than in Trinidad; that the general comfort and respectability 
of the Bahama negroes was superior to that of those in the neighboring British 
colonies; that adult laborers were generalh^ able to make a comfortable living 
within two years after their introduction into the Bahamas ; and that the 
treatment they would receive here and the homes they would find, would make 
them into loyal subjects of the King in return for the protection afforded them. 
The probable cost of settling them would have been inconsiderable, in his view, 
in prospect of the return for the outlay/""' Fortunately for the captives, Cole- 
brooke was unable to induce the Colonial Department to adopt his program for 
these settlements. 

Colebrooke had only to deal Avith those negroes which were brought into 
the ports of the Bahamas from the neighboring water. But in 
this Avay many captives were introduced into the Colony. In March, 
1836, the slaver Vigilante, with a burden of 230 negroes, and in April 
of the same year the Creole with 314, all in a deplorable condition, were brought 
to I^assau.^'" The cargo of the former was in a dreadful state. Diseased and 
wearied by the long voyage, many of them were blinded with ophthalmia. All 
were half naked and they Avere huddled together in a vessel without a deck, 
having to make their bed on the hedge poles which protected the yams, that 
served for their means of subsistence. The latter cargo, made up largely of 
children, was in nearly as bad condition. Under the orders of the Lieutenant- 
Governor they Avere in each case landed as soon as possible, and cared for in such 
manner as the meager hospitals and other places on the island could accom- 
modate them.^^^ After the negroes had been restored to strength they 
were indentured to the inhabitants, as had been done in the case of those brought 
in before. The people seemed eager to obtain these docile newcomers as serv- 

"' Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 25 (1836). 

^^ Loc. cit. 

^'^ Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 39 (1836). 

•'^° Colebrooke to Glenelg, Nos. 28 and 31. 

^^^ Log. cit., No. 43. An attempt was made to prosecute the ships' masters for 
piracy on account of the atrocious conduct reported of them. The bills were 
rejected by the grand jury on the ground that they had no jurisdiction over crimes 
committed on the high seas. 



518 HISTORY 

ants.*'" The remnants of another cargo, most of whom were drowned at Harbor 
Island, came in JSTovember, 1837.*^" Two more loads of ghastly looking Afri- 
cans, numbering in all 1043, were brought in the spring of 1838. Both of 
these vessels were of limited size. The Africans were cared for in the best 
manner possible. The people to whom they could be indentured desired to 
accept them as apprentices only for terms of a considerable number of years. 
Some difficulty was experienced in the attempt to bind them out for short 
terms. There were applications for all of them, however, and all were inden- 
tured within a few weeks."* 

The demand for indentured servants at Nassau was almost satisfied. The 
eagerness to receive them abated. In the early summer of 1838 great difficulty 
was experienced in disposing of the cargo of a Spanish slaver. Adults were 
less easily indentured than children. The inhabitants would only accept them 
on terms that were very favorable to themselves. If set free the newly arrived 
Africans were not equal to the battle with their circumstances. They could 
not understand the nature of agreements, and were unable if unaided to gain 
a living. It was always best to place them in tutelage and under the care of 
the special justices, in order to prevent them from being imposed on by the 
public. Those who were able to receive them as servants preferred to contract 
for a term of seven or fourteen years. Many would not take them for a shorter 
term. It was more profitable to apprentices, as well as to the masters, to place 
them out for the longer term. The masters endeavored to teach long term 
apprentices to be useful and many of them became independent and prosperous 
after a few years, whereas little interest was taken in teaching those who 
would soon have to be released.'^^ During this summer, also, the failure of 
Colebrooke's settlements began to throw the negroes in them l)ack on the hands 
of the government. It became impracticable to place indentures for shorter 
terms than four years.''" The necessity of the maintenance of any considerable 
number of them was avoided by the vigilance of Lieutenant-Governor Cockburn 
in finding new employment for these people. A few, however, did fall upon 
the government for a time. 

After the cancellation of the praedial agreements the indenturing of this 
class of Africans was also discontinued. This left some without employment. 

"^-Loc. cit.. No. 39. 
^^= Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 38. , 
*=* Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 75. 
*^^ Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 79. 
^'^^ Loc. cit. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 519 

In the autumn of 1838, all Africans landed from slaving vessels were freed 
from the obligations of their indentures."' The children from a brig that was 
brought to ISTassau were placed in care of the African establishment at Car- 
miehael/^* 

The settlements made for these Africans were not successful. That at 
Highburn Cay made by Sir James Smyth failed, because of a drouth. Those 
at Carmichael and Adelaide were declining during the administration of 
Colebrooke. Another was formed at Headquarters, near the city of Kassau. 
This was the most successful of any of these experiments. The site of Head- 
quarters, now called Grants Town, was a swamp. The negroes entered 
it under the supervision of the government, drained it, enclosed their allot- 
ments, planted gardens, erected dwellings, and laid out streets and other im- 
provements for the public good.'''^ On this site was formed a permanent settle- 
ment, the lots being sold to those who occupied them. Preparations were 
made for a large scheme of settlement wherever the vacant lands of the Colony 
would admit it. Township sites were selected on the Out-islands. Among the 
first of these was that at Stirrups Cay, one of the Berry Islands, fifty miles 
north of Nassau. This place was called Williamstown, in honor of the King; 
another was called Victoria for the princess. There was much competition for 
building sites in these places. Colebrooke hoped to persuade the negroes to 
settle in these places and to establish permanent homes as soon as they were set 
free.''" Some of these settlements flourished for a time, but none of them 
with the exception of Grants Town has had any considerable permanent im- 
portance in the Colonj^ They generally declined after a few years. Some of 
them have, however, become the sites of the small towns on the Out-islands. 
There has been no continuous prosperity in the Colony that would warrant the 
building of towns. Bennetts Harbor at San Salvador, the Harbors at Eum 
Cay and Eagged Island, at the Bight and Great Harbor at Long Island were 
among these town sites that were selected at this time."^ 



^"Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 119. 

*^^ Log. cit., No. 134. Cockburn received an instruction to ttie effect that he 
should use all means in his power to secure the cancellation of these agreements, 
but did not understand it as applying to the captives. A little later he received 
more definite instructions and proceeded to give the order for the cancellation of 
these indentures. Loc. cit. 

'"» Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 72. 

^^^ Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 125. 

*" Sess. P., 1836, 49, pp. 543-5. 



520 HISTORY 

Eelations of the Branches of the Government. 

The transition from slavery to apprenticeship in the Bahamas was ac- 
complished without any considerable disturbance. In some places the negroes 
had refused to work until the coming of the magistrates, when the new rela- 
tions were explained to them. The coming of these officers proved a cure for 
all ills of this kind. Quiet was restored. It was now known that slave pro- 
perty was annulled, that compensation Avould be received for it, and that any 
efforts this little Colony could make could not alter in the least the working 
out and attainment of the object at which the home government was aiming. 
Four years were left to the people in which to employ their laborers without 
other remuneration to the latter than that of subsistence. It was to the 
advantage of those who had owned slaves to make the most out of the services 
of apprentices, while the opportunity lasted. 

The spirit of the slave owners was conquered. They had resisted, standing 
on their inviolable " constitutional rights " of Englishmen, until Parliament 
gave the death-blow to their " right " to hold slaves in British territory. Now 
that continued attempts to resist could effect no longer a postponement of the 
evil day, they determined to comply with the wishes of the home government 
in the regulation of the apprenticeship system. Their most liberal concession 
was that by which they provided that the King might disallow any part of their 
statute regulating apprentices, without impairing the other parts of the same 
act.'^' The objectionable parts could thus be annulled without destroying the 
act itself. The Assembly also complied with the recommendations of the 
Secretary of State for amending the auxiliary act, and passed other laws such 
that early in the summer of 1835, the Secretary of State was able to admit that 
" satisfactory provision had been made by the Bahama government for carry- 
ing out the intentions of His Majesty's government " in the abolition.^^ 

Although this compliant spirit prevailed for a time, there were still 
smoulderings of resentful opposition to the progress of the measures of the 
government. These feelings were shared by the members of the opposition 
party in the House of Assembly and were supported by a faction at l^assau. 
A newspaper published by a young American furnished an outlet for the 
expression of the views of this faction. This party seemed to be unwilling to 
believe that any measures of the home government, for the improvement of 
social conditions in this Colony, could operate .successfully. The members 

"' 4 William IV, 21, last section. 
^"Ds., S. St., 1835, No. 26. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 521 

of it at first distrusted the special magistracy. There was for a time a total 
ignorance at the capital as to the state of things in the Out-islands. Before the 
return of the special justices from their first circuits, this disaffected faction 
attempted to take advantage of this ignorance to bring the government into 
disfavor with the people. For a time none could contradict the charges they 
made. Such conduct was unfavorable to the progress of the reforms, and of 
government measures in the i\.ssembly.*" Even after the report of favorable 
conditions came, this faction continued to represent things as unfavorable, in 
order to place the government in a bad light.'*''" The members of this party 
were jealous of the class just rising from the condition of slaves, in which 
they had wished to keep them. Lieutenant-Governor Colebrooke saw among 
them what he called the spirit of Americanism, a lack of reverence for royalty 
and of attachment to the mother countrj^, which he attributed to the frequency 
of communication with the States."^ 

The House of Assembly sitting at this time was that which had been elected 
in 1834, before the abolition took effect. A considerable portion of the 
constituency existing in 1835 had had no voice in the election of this body, 
a fact which caused no little dissatisfaction both on the floor of the House and 
outside of it. In its membership were four gentlemen of color who had sat 
through its deliberations Avithout menace to public interests. A few members, 
chief among whom was Charles Eogers ISTesbitt, favored government measures 
and generally succeeded in carrying them through the House. Speaker 
Meadows and a number of others were of the opposition, some of them almost 
violent against the government. Still other seats were occupied, or at least 
controlled, by the merchants of Bay Street at Nassau. These inclined to the 
opposition."' Besides these there was a violent member sitting for the Turks 
Islands, -who was a disturber and an opponent of the amelioration measures."' 

*^^ Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 94 (1835), and No. 10 (1836). 

^""Loc. cit, No. 10. 

^^Loc. cit, No. 10. 

**^ Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 10. The elections in some of the Out-islands 
were nominal. In some of these only a few electors would assemble to vote and 
the poll was easily controlled. In closer settlements the poor inhabitants were 
dependent on the merchants for their necessaries and were generally Indebted to 
the latter, who could control their votes. 

^^ Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 10 (1836). This man, Henshall Stubbs by name, 
was the only considerable employer of labor at the Turks Islands who refused to 
make voluntary engagements with his apprentices. He was reported to have been 
constantly in disputes with the magistrates. 



522 HISTORY 

The spirit of the opposition was " inimical to the changes in progress." "" The 
Council, with the exception of one or two members, was in favor of the program 
of the government. 

A session of the Assembly which began in the autumn of 1834, under the 
administration of Balfour, continued until after the coming of Colebrooke, 
in February of the following year. In March, 1835, the House of Assembly 
incorporated in its appropriation bill an item of £2225 as remuneration to 
Henshall Stubbs, the member from the Turks Islands, on a claim for service 
rendered with a private guardship at the Turks Islands, during the agitation 
over the abolition of slavery .*"' The claimant voted in his own behalf and the 
appropriation bill was carried in the House by a majority of only one vote. 
On account of the presence of this item the Council rejected the whole appro- 
priation bill. A sensation was created in the House by this vote. To prevent 
a difficulty the Lieutenant-Governor prorogued the Assembly for a few days. 
A new session began within a few days afterwards. No serious interruption 
of business was caused by the prorogation and the effect of it on the House was 
salutary. The members became milder and received government recommen- 
dations with more favor than before.''^^ But in this session one of the first 
things to come up was the appropriation bill including the claim of the Turks 
Islands member. The amount of the claim had now been reduced to £900. 
The Council, although disposed to reject the bill again, passed it and it received 
the assent of the Executive.^"^ The Council did not adjourn Avithout placing on 
record a resolution that it would pass no more such claims for public services 
unless they were preferred through the Executive. The bone of contention 
Avas removed. The Assemblj^ was prorogued without further breach of rela- 
tions, but the feeling in the House was not such as to promise careful consider- 
ation to proposals at the next session. 

^'"Loc. cit. 

^^° H. v., 1834-5, p. 130, report of the committee on this claim. There had been 
excitement and insubordination at the Turks Islands in the year 1832 when all were 
expecting action by Parliament on the slave question. The slaves were not easily 
controlled. Many of them were eloping from Grand Cay. There was little hope of 
securing aid from Nassau to put down the insubordinate. Stubbs offered to employ 
his own vessel, equipped and manned by himself, on condition that the inhabitants 
would certify that the vessel was needed to preserve the peace. Thirty-seven per- 
sons, five of whom were magistrates, agreed to certify to his claim. Stubbs fitted 
out and manned his vessel and did guard duty from April 11, 1832, until March 
6, 1834. 

*^^ Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 26. 

^^- Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 64. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 533 

The Assembly met again in December, 1835. Thus far the government 
had been able to counteract any opposition that had arisen in the popular body. 
Tranquillity continued to prevail in all parts of the Colony according to 
reports that came to the capital. The intelligence of this acted favorably on the 
people. It was not without effect within the halls of the legislature. But little 
of it supported the contention of the opposition as to the success of the appren- 
ticeship system. At the opening of the session, the Executive refrained from 
making reference to anything that might distract the members from attention 
to the public interests. Nothing was done to arouse the opposition. But the 
discontented could not act with equanimity of mind from the very beginning of 
the session.'"^ Things without and within disturbed them. Soon after the 
meetings had begun, an American brigantine, whose masters were charged 
with piracy, was brought into port."'* As the Vice-Admiralty Court could not 
meet for trial of the prisoners until February, 1836, a bill was passed in the 
legislature to permit them to be tried at once without incurring the expense 
of supporting them for almost two months.'^' The judicial proceedings were 
followed with interest by the people. The members of the Assembly were no 
less stirred up than the rest of the community. Troops had to be employed to 
guard the prisoners.'^" A proposal to repeal the clause in the militia act, which 
forbade the enrolment of the blacks in the service, was rejected by the House 
after an animated discussion.'" A bill for improvements in the administration 
of justice was thrown out on the second reading.'^^ A very popular education 

^^Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 10 (1836). 

*''L0G. cit., No. 120 (1835). 

*'= Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 4 (1836). There were 176 persons under the 
charge of piracy. It did not seem unwise to dispose of their case as soon as 
possible. 

*'''^ Loc. cit.. No. 13. 

*^' H. v., 1835-6, 53, resolutions passed on this occasion. Located as the 
Africans were in the Colony in settlements almost entirely removed from the other 
inhabitants and at a distance from any power to control them, this together with 
the probability that more of them would arrive at any time from Africa caused the 
majority in the House to think that " an act to prevent the enrolment of them in 
the Colonial militia," was desirable. There lay in the removal of it too much 
danger to the public peace. The House professed to be willing to facilitate the 
enrolment of the militia, but not in this manner. 

^^•^ Regarding this action of the House, the Lieutenant-Governor wrote: "That 
the bill for the administration of justice was not allowed to go into committee 
may be ascribed to the clauses it contained for preserving the jury trial and the 
constitutional objection I maintained to any abridgment of the right of the subject 
to trial by jury which the House has shown a disposition to abridge since the recent 
changes in society." Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 10 (1836). 



5M HISTORY 

bill was passed by a majority of four after a strong opposition. A proposition 
came up to appropriate money to pay the expense of the trial of the pirates. 
A minor item in it was objected to. The whole bill of expenses was at once re- 
jected by a resolution which declared that the Eeceiver-General had acted ille- 
gally in paying it.*^'' Excitement in the House was groAving. Taunts were 
thrown out to the Council for its yielding on the appropriation bill in the 
previous session. The sensation produced in the Council by the reckless 
course of the House caused the Lieutenant-Governor to see that any longer 
continuance of this conduct could only cause greater dissatisfaction and that 
the opposition would gain strength by it. The fractious member from the 
Turks Islands declared^ on the floor of "the House, that the members then sitting 
did not represent fairly the constituencies as they then existed, and that an ap- 
peal to the people should be made. The Lieutenant-Governor acted upon the 
suggestion, dissolving the House near the last of Januar)^, 1836.^"" The dis- 
solution seemed to be at the time chosen for it by the House itself. The 
Council concurred with the Executive in the move. It seemed likely that an 
appeal to the people would show that the opposition was a minority in the 
Colony. 

A serious breach in the relations of the two branches of the Assembly was 
averted by the timely action of the Executive. Eelations had not been cordial 
during two or three sessions, but now the House was wrought up to such a state 
of excitement that any violent proposal against the Executive would have 
received heedless support from the opposition. Under such conditions an 
exercise of the prerogative was desirable. It was important also to give to 
the class just emerging from slavery an opportunity to reflect upon the re- 
sponsibilities which they would soon be called upon to discharge, in voting for 
legislators.^" 

Another Assembly was called as soon as the forms of an election could be 
gone through. The results of the dissolution were manifest in the better spirit 
with which the new body applied itself to legislating for the interests of the 
Colony. More enlightened counsels prevailed. Liberal militia and education 
bills Avere passed, and provision was made for the incorporation of the Turks 
Islands.'"" The administration of justice was reformed, improved regulations 

'^'Loc. cit., No. 10. 

'"' hoc. cit. Also H. v., 1835-6, pp. 138-40. 

^"^ Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 53 (1836). 

"-The act for this purpose was disallowed in the following year, H. V., 

1837, 288. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 525 

were made for contracts between employers and laborers and for praedial ap- 
prentices, and prison discipline was mollified/"^ The leaders in this body were 
active and public spirited. They cooperated with the government in measures 
for the public good. It was gratifying to Colebrooke that the liberated had 
thus been " called into a political existence, and a perception of their real 
position and importance in the community of which the other classes as well 
as themselves (had) remained in a great degree unconscious." *" The electors 
and those who were sent to the new House were disposed to promote measures 
favorable to the public improvement.^'^ 

Teemination oe x4pprenticeship System. 

The special magistracy continued in its effective control of the apprentice- 
ship system. The corps of six magistrates was sufficient to attend to all the 
business of the Colony, to preserve order and to promote harmonious relations 
between the classes. The zeal of the magistrates to give justice to all classes 
was such as to inspire and renew confidence in them. They were reluctant to 
allow the infliction of corporal punishment, except in cases where no other form 
of punishment would suffice. In this respect a greater amount of discretion 
was allowed towards the close of the period. This was almost the sole change 
that was made in the system as instituted by Lieutenant-Governor Colebrooke."" 
The efficient management by the magistrates tended to lessen the need of 
their presence as regulators. A reduction in their number was suggested. 
The establishment was a costly one for this small Colony to support with the 
narrow basis on which it depended for its revenues. This fact alone was suffi- 
cient in the minds of the local legislators to warrant its reduction.*" Cock- 
burn was unfavorable to the reduction, unless some other officials than tbe 
ordinary justices of the peace could be looked to to assume the functions of 
protectors of the praedials.*"^ Quiet continued to reign throughout the 

^^=H. v., 1836, p. 315-17. Also Bahama Statutes, 6 William IV. 

«* Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 52 (1836). 

*^^ Log. cit. 

^'^ Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 66. 

^^^ The cost of the six magistrates was £ 2700 annually. Cockburn to Glenelg, 
No. 56. 

^^ Log. cit., No. 56. Cockburn thought if a reduction was made in the number 
of these officers two or three should be retained, and the duties assumed by the 
ordinary justices. This he thought might not prejudice the interests of any class. 
This would serve to bring the negroes' to look for protection to the same officers to 
whom they had formerly looked before the abolition. 



526 HISTORY 

Colon3^ The apprentices were contented under the regulations as the special 
justices applied them. The spirit of industry increased. Many apprentices- 
had become independent, the striving for the attainment of which condition 
had become a great stimulus to them. The near approach of the day when the 
praedials were to be released caused no demonstrations of anxiety. All reports 
were most favorable to the good conduct of the laborers.^"' 

But as the end of the term of the apprenticeship of the non-praedials ap- 
proached, certain elements in the population of the mother country began an 
agitation for the release of the praedials by action of Parliament. A memorial 
was presented to the House of Commons setting forth as facts many things 
that were not true at all, of this Colony at least, and praying that final action 
be taken by that body to release the praedials from the remaining two yeai's 
of their bondage.^'" The Ministry made a reply declining to take the lead in 
making any such recommendations to Parliament."^ But the Secretary of 
State for the colonies made enquiry of the Lieutenant-Governor as to the prob- 
ability of the local legislature enacting the desired release of the praedials. 
The state of opinion in the Bahamas, following upon the deep Avound of the 
abolition, was such that the auspices were unfavorable to the introduction of 
this measure into the local legislature. In addition to this, all parties Avere 
so well contented with the existing relations that it seemed unjust to the 
owners of praedial labor to obtrude a measure to deprive them of it.*" Cock- 
burn regarded the introduction of this measure as unnecessary."^ 

Nevertheless the question was brought up in the mid-summer session of 
the legislature in 1838."* The House of Assembly elected in 1837 was under 
the control of the opposition."' The Speaker of the House was also of the 
opposition faction."" There had been several resignations from the House,. 

^^'Sess. P., 1839, 37, p. 487 (12-14). 

"" Sess. P., 1837-39, 49, pp. 6-8. Petitions to the same effect signed by 600,00(> 
women were sent to Parliament. 

''^Loc. cit., p. 6. 

*"Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 5 (1838). 

^'^Loc. cit., No. 68. 

^'^ Loc. cit., No. 84. See also Sess. P., 1839, 37, p. 487 (9). 

^'° On the departure of Colebrooke from the Bahamas, President Hunter, of the 
Council, had administered the government until the arrival of Cockburn. He 
dissolved the legislature and called another. Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 86. 

"" Speaker Meadows was formerly violent in his opposition to the government. 
He was appointed to the chairmanship of this House without opposition. In 1834 he 
was the mover of the resolution to censure the Council which became the occasion 
of the dissolution of the Assembly by Balfour. He introduced the measure in 1836 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 537 

and the elections to fill the vacancies had resulted in favor of the opposition. 
The then recent amendment to the imperial abolition act/" granting rights to 
the praedials and additional powers to the governors of the colonies, was un- 
popular among the employers of praedial labor. It was repugnant to them to 
be subjected to additional regulations from home.^™ Some of the members of 
the House were doubtless influenced b}^ these new regulations to vote for the 
release of the praedials, when the matter was presented to that bod3^ The friends 
of the government were active to strike objectionable provisions out of the 
original bill, and to make it as favorable as possible to the emancipated classes. 
Finall}' on July 2 the Executive was notified that the bill had been passed. On 
the 3rd of July the two houses were called into the presence of the Lieutenant- 
Governor, who was there to sign the bills to which he would give his assent. A 
very irregular proceeding occurred. The Speaker of the House, with the con- 
currence of his colleagues, arose and in a confused manner read a long address, 
calling in question the right of the imperial Parliament to legislate for the 
colonies, and arraigning the representative of the Queen for his conduct in 
dealing with the apprenticeship question.^" This was a last expression of the 
long-confined feelings of the late slave owners, perhaps intended for a revenge 
against the prerogative for fancied Avrongs against the rights of the people. 
As soon as opportunity Avas allowed, the astounded Executive signed the bills 
and dismissed the assemblage. The business of the session was allowed to 
proceed without interruption by the government. The House tendered its 
presiding ofiicer a vote of thanks for his compliance with its wishes, and 
hastened to strike from its journals a minute stating that his conduct was not 
concurred in by its members. The Lieutenant-Governor was urged to dissolve 
the House at once, as a mark of disapprobation of irregular conduct. Cockburn 
preferred to await an authorization from the Colonial Department at London 

that led to the dissolution by Colebrooke. In 1837 he took active part in the meas- 
ures that led to the dissolution by President Hunter. His career in the Colony had 
been begun in the commissariat, from which Sir James Smyth had dismissed him for 
his conduct in the treatment of a gang of slaves while acting in the capacity of 
agent for an absent proprietor. From that probably arose the opposition which 
he so actively followed against the government. He had been quiet on the coming 
of Cockburn, but it was not long before his unbecoming conduct brought his col- 
leagues into difficulty. Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 86. Meadows was appointed to 
the Legislative Council after the separation of the Councils. 

'■' Imp. Stats., 1 Vic, 19. . ■ 

"^ Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 86. 

*'° Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 86. This speech also contained some remarks 
about the abolition act of Parliament. 



538 HISTORY 

although convinced of the expediency of an early dissolution/^' In the early 
part of the following year this body was sent back to the people who had 
elected it^ in order to secure another expression of their will/" 

The praedial apprentices were now released from the unexpired portion 
of their term of apprenticeship/*' Old and infirm persons now coming free 
were to be supported at the expense of the State unless otherwise provided 
for/*^ In order to prevent the praedials and others from being thrown upon 
the public without homes, two months notice was made necessary before an 
ejectment from rented property could be forced. But there was no general 
disposition to take advantage of the negroes in. any such way. August 1, 1838, 
passed by with no demonstrations of .insubordination on the part of the class 
which was coming into command of itself. The harmonious relations 
that had existed since the latter part of the 5'ear 1835 continued to prevail.*^* 
The employers and men acted in the best spirit. Content with their relations 
since the abolition, the negroes wished to continue in the service of their 
former employers, and the latter were disposed to enter into relations for 
mutual benefit.^*^ In addition to this, the indentures of the Africans were 
cancelled in the autumn of this 3^ear (1838). The last of bonded labor as 
a general system Avas done away with in the Bahamas. It had long been in ex- 
istence here. Henceforth the affairs of the Colony concern freemen. In the 
next chapter it will be necessary to show how the progressive spirit of English 
nineteenth century politics dealt with the negro as a freeman, how unceasing 
were the efforts made to educate him and to further ameliorate his condition, by 
introducing into his very being the seeds of civilization, of morality, and of 
economic well-being. 

THE PERIOD 1838 TO 1848. 

The Opposition Party and the Government. 

The numerous contests with the Assembly during the last decade were not 
calculated to produce harmony between the government and the House of 
Assembly. The small number of those who were likely to be elected to seats in 

"^"Loc. cit. 

^^iCockburn to Glenelg, No. 14 (1839). 
*«^2 Vic, 1. 

*^Loc. cit. Also Sess. P., 1839, 37, p. 487 (12). 
«*Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 96. Sess. P., 1839, 37, p. 487 (12). 
*^Sess. P., 1839, 37, p. 487 (14). Loe. cit., p. 12, report of S. J., for New 
Providence. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 529 

the House made it almost inevitable that each House of Assembly would have 
in its number some persons who had sat in former Assemblies. Thus in 1838 
there were members of much influence who had sat through all the stormy 
sessions of the House since 1830. Some of these had been leaders of the oppo- 
sition faction. This party had acquired the habit of unqualified opposition in 
all its contests with the government. Some of its members had voted for the 
release of the apprentices. It now formed a majority in the House, and had 
no disposition to consider favorably any measure that the government might 
propose. Its members made harsh accusations against the government '^' 
during the session that occurred in the autumn of 1838. The Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor had long been convinced that a reference to the people would be expedient. 
He acted ver}^ deliberately, however, preferring that it should be known that 
the anticipated dissolution had been authorized from London instead of from 
the Government House at Nassau. 

The House of Assembly sat and stormed. The land question came up. 
The government proposed a measure to prevent the unauthorized occupation 
of the Crown lands of the Colony.'" The bill was modeled after an Order-in- 
council that had been issued for the Crown colonies. After a heated discus- 
sion of its merits and demerits it was rejected. Some members of the oppo- 
sition took occasion to express want of confidence in any measures the govern- 
ment might propose for passage. It became evident that the carrying out of 
the views of the government must depend on the issue of a new election. The 
majority were expressly hostile to the government program. Eelations be- 
tween the government and the House were at their worst, and the time was 
ripe for an improvement of them.*^' Any longer delay would have given weight 
to the accusations made by the opposition, as it would have appeared to be over- 
looking past misconduct. The dissolution occurred early in 1839. This step 
was taken with anything but haste. Francis Cockburn had been urged to pur- 
sue this course six months earlier. He preferred to consider well the results 
that might be expected to flow from it. The House on its part grew more 
violent with every step, so violent that it was no longer doubtful that it ought 
to be dissolved. 

The business of the Colony demanded the attention of the legislature. 

^= Cockburn to Glenelg, Ds. of Dec. 22, 1838, Misc. Letter Book of Governors, 
1838-50. 

^" Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 5 (1839) . 
^^ Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 5 (1839). 
34 



530 HISTORY 

The act granting the salar}^ list was to expire at the beginning of the following 
year, the regulation of the relations of masters and servants required a neAV 
adjustment, and, most important of all, the Colony was face to face with the 
duty of educating the ignorant among its population. Another attempt at 
legislation must be made for the sake of these and other interests. Writs for 
a new election were issued without delay. It seemed likely that a majority 
favorable to the government would be returned. It was certain, however, that 
the opposition would make an attempt to seat as many members as possible. 
There had been a difficulty in former elections that men of respecta- 
bility, who were favorable to the government, refused to offer themselves for 
seats in the House. This was not true at this election,^'^ but there was a 
regrettable lack of zeal for candidates whom the Lieutenant-Governor desired 
to see elected."" Much influence was exerted in this election by the control of 
the salary list. The issue of the contest was not certain. Public officers draw- 
ing salaries from the local government were deterred from taking active part 
in behalf of government candidates by the fact that the Assembly had power 
to diminish their incomes. In the previous year the House had reduced the 
salary of the Provost Marshal £100 without j^revious warning, and, had the 
Council or the Lieutenant-Governor interfered, the whole appropriation for the 
year would have been rejected. The Surveyor-General had not received a 
salary for several years.""' Other officials were extremely reluctant to give sup- 
port to persons known to be in favor of government measures. Violent but 
groundless accusations Avere made against the representative of the Crown. 
It was alleged that tbe sacred ordinances of religion had been prostituted to 
subserve the political interests of the government. Objection was raised to the 
voting of Africans whose indentures had been lately cancelled. It Avas ques- 
tioned Avhether they should be placed on an equal footing Avith the discharged 
apprentices.'"^ Attempts Avere made to turn the liberated Africans against the 
government, and to induce them not to support candidates AAdio Avould be likely 
to vote for government measures in the coming sessions of the legislature. A 
hard contest Avas fought at Xassau. One, John Pinder, who had advocated the 
claims of the Africans for naturalization, Avas strongly opposed by this party. 
Pinder Avas held up as an enemy of the negroes. The latter, however, voted 

^^"Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 9 (1839). 

'""Loc. cit., No. 20. 

^"^Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 20. 

^^^ Log. cit. Tbis despatch intimates that they had been allowed to vote. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 531 

for their benefactor and he was elected."'^ The Turks, Crooked and Acklin 
Islands, all of which had formerly been dominated by the opposition, now 
returned government members/"* The election resulted in an almost equal 
division of the membership of the House between the government party and the 
opposition. Among those sent up were several individuals belonging to the 
military forces stationed at ISTassau. They were generally Englishmen and 
favorable to the government policy. In this instance they helped to make up 
what became eventually a bare majority for the government party ."^ 

Election of Speaker. 

The legislature was convened on May 6, 1839. The opposition voted 
for the reelection of the Speaker of the last House. Opposed to him was the 
Attorney-General, George Campbell Anderson, who had been a staunch advo- 
cate of government measures for several years preceding.^"^ A great 
interest was taken in the contest. It was reported to the Lieutenant-Governor 
that a ballot had been taken and that it had resulted in a tie vote. Each party 
persisted in support of its candidate.*"" The Executive declined to interfere. 
He wished to avoid the appearance of doing anything that was irregular, since, 
in the sensitive state of opinion in the Colony, many were seeking every oppor- 
tunity to make complaints against his conduct. When it appeared that differ- 
ent results were not forthcoming, Cockburn prorogued the Assembly for a 
month in order to allow time for reflection as to the course he should pursue. 
It appeared that the deadlock would continue and that the ultimate choice 
would lie with him. But in the interval of the prorogation, one of the members 
of the opposition sailed for England. This led to the solution of the difl&culty. 
The House met again at the appointed time and elected Attorney-General 
Anderson as its Speaker.*'^ 

Hitherto no objection had been made to the presence of the military men 

^''^ Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 14 (1839). 

^■^Loc. cit.. No. 20. 

*^^ Cockburn to Normanby, No. 11. The elections to vacant seats after the 
opening of the sessions of this House resulted in the return of government mem- 
bers. Loc. cit., No. 21. 

"" Anderson had been a supporter of the government since he had come to a 
position of influence in the Colony. He was appointed to the Executive Council in 
1841. At this time he began his services as Speaker of the House in which position 
he continued for twenty-six years. He retired from the place with great honor on 
the occasion of the disendowment of the Anglican Church of the Bahamas. 

^^'' Cockburn to Normanby, No. 2. 

^"^Loc. cit. 



532 HISTORY 

who had been elected members of this House. There was no colonial law nor 
any regulation to prevent them from sitting in the House if elected. These 
men had been freely elected by the suffrages of the qualified voters; they were 
subject to the same qualification oaths as to property, etc., as the other mem- 
bers; some of them had been in the Colony for many years and had become 
property holders and were certainly not ill-qualified to sit in the legislature."*' 
Custom in the colonies seemed to favor allowing them to hold seats in a 
colonial legislature. Attempts were made by the opposition to secure their 
votes against the government, failing which it was charged that their election 
was a wrong against the people. The opposition seized upon their presence in 
the House as the cause of its own defeat in the speakership contest and 
objected to their retaining seats. It Avas now charged that undue influence 
had been exerted to bring about their election.'"" The Executive had already 
begun to present the government program for the business of the session when 
a motion Avas made for the unseating of the military members. The latter 
withdrew during the consideration of this question, but there Avas still a ma- 
jority of the House in favor of their retention of the seats to AAdiich they had 
been returned.""^ After this disappointing vote, the jealousy of the discon- 
tented members Avas shoAvn by their attempts to obstruct legislation and to 
hinder the progress of business. The}" were unable to cause serious concern to 
the government during this session. The opposition Avas now defeated. It 
had kept up the feeling against the representative of the CroAvn since Sir James 
Smyth had first broken Avith it in 1831, it had hindered business, had impeded 
the changes that were being made in society, and had always been tenacious in 
clinging to and claiming constitutional right and privileges AAdiich neither King, 
Ministry, nor Parliament Avould recognize as belonging to the Colony. It had 
gone so far, in many instances, that it Avas no longer popular Avith the majority 
of the people. Several of its prominent members had emigrated, others had 
become reconciled to the changes and had become supporters of the government. 
A minority remained to contest with the goA'ermnent. From this time Ave 
shall find an improvement in the character of the relations existing between 
the government and the Assembly. Opposition did not cease, but for several 
years the situation Avas Avithin the grasp of the Governors and their leadership 

"° Cockburn to Normanby, No. 12. 

'''"'Log. cit., No. 11. 

^" Loc. cit., No. 12. The return of Lieutenant Nicolls, sitting for Watlings and 
Rum Cay, was found to be irregular. Writs were issued for a new election in that 
district. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 533 

was followed in legislation. The results of this dissolution on the politics of 
the Colony were far-reaching. 

Government Prevails. 

The margin of the majority in the House was narrow. In this June ses- 
sion the disaffected members voted against almost all measures that were not 
of their own finding. Bills for the regulation of masters and servants, for the 
prevention of vagrancy and the unauthorized occupation of land, and for plac- 
ing the control of the militia in the hands of the Grovernor, were passed only by 
the easting vote of the fSpeaker.""" The absence from his seat. of one member of 
the majority would have blocked its way in legislation. A fear that such would 
be the state of things seized upon the Lieutenant-Governor before the beginning 
of the next session in December, 1839. Charles E. Fesbitt, the leader of the 
government party, was absent from the Colony.""^ His leadership was needed 
in presenting the measures of the government, if the turbulent party was to be 
kept under control.™^ The importance of his presence was so great, in the 
mind of the Lieutenant-Governor, that he delayed convening the legislature 
as long as it would not cause inconvenience to the public interests,""^ awaiting 
ISTesbitt's return. 

One of the most vital questions at issue was that of the control of the civil 
salary list. This Colony was always reluctant to vote freely on appropriations 
for public purposes. The number of years for which any annual payments 
were guaranteed was always guardedly limited. Salaries had been relegated 
to the list of expenses regularly provided for in the annual appropriation bilL 
There they could be reduced or otherwise changed at the whim of the House 
of Assembly. This was a thing that was manipulated arbitrarily to suit the 
occasion that offered. The almost absolute certainty that such use would be 
made of it, that salaries would be scaled down and the incumbents of office be 
made to feel want, had become a menace to officials and a spur to them t» 

^"^ Cockburn to Normanby, No. 12. 

^^ Nesbitt was in England at the time. Cockburn had the utmost confidence in 
him as a supporter. He had asked the Secretary of State to confer with him during 
his stay in London, to regard him as a thoroughly reliable witness as to the condi- 
tions existing in the Bahamas, and to accept what he might say as indicating the 
views of the local government. After the elevation of Anderson to the Speaker's 
chair, Nesbitt had become the member on whom Cockburn relied. His leadership,. 
no less than his vote, was needed. 

^ Cockburn to Normanby, No. 36. 

^^Loc. cit.. No. 36, and Cockburn to Russell, No. 5 (1839). 



534 HISTORY 

govern their conduct in accordance with the prevailing temper of the majority 
in the House of Assembly. The management of it was as unscrupulous as it 
was vexatious. Its effects were manifest in the election that had just passed, 
and no less in others before this one. It also became a factor in determining 
the attitude of members of the House who were officials, towards measures that 
came up for consideration. For five years, however, the imminence of this 
danger had been removed, as a result of the grant of salaries for that period 
obtained by Balfour in 1835.""^ Francis Cockburn now desired to. have such a 
vote again, and if possible to secure the grant for the whole reign of the 
Queen.^"'' He had almost accomplished his object when the defection of two 
members of the House, on whose support he had relied, defeated the plan and 
made the grant for only seven years.°°* The matter was not allowed to rest with 
this. During the same session Cockburn applied for and secured an amend- 
ment by which the grant was changed from seven years to the whole reign of 
the Queen.""" This seems to have been an example of confidence in the Crown 
that was almost without precedent in the British West Indies.''^'' There was no 
longer any immediate anxiety as to the control of the salary list. 

Separations^ of the Councils. 

The nucleus of the support received by the Executive of the Bahamas from 
the colonial people, lay in the Advisory Council. In all the struggles with the 
local people during the previous twenty years this body had stood with the 
Executive with few exceptions. It was often a lukewarm support that some of 
the members gave, and there was sometimes a determined minority of the 
opposition in it. It usually acted in harmony with the wishes of the Gov- 
ernor, with whom it was closely allied in the affairs of government. After it 
had been remodeled by Sir James Smyth it had become a source of strength to 
the government. In this Colony one body of men had acted as a Legis- 
lative Council and as a Privy (Executive) Council to the governor, its mem- 
bers being thus excluded from the membership of the Hoiise of Assembly. It 
was a custom to appoint to seats in the Council men of the first rank for mod- 
eration and general worth. There were two vacant seats in the Council in 



^•"^ Balfour to Rice, No. 43. The Assembly had been compliant during that year. 

^'" Cockburn to Russell, Nos. 5 and 8. 

^^ Log. Git., No. 8. 

^^LOG. Git., No. 15 (Feb. 14, 1840). 

"° Log. cit. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 535 

1840 and another was vacated by the death of the senior member, John Irving.^" 
There were two men in the House of Assembly whom Cockburn desired to have 
in his Advisory Council. These were Charles E. Nesbitt and George C. Ander- 
son. They would have to resign their seats in the House if they should accept 
seats in the Council. Cockburn applied to the Colonial Department for a 
separation of the Councils, vesting the legislative functions in one body and the 
executive functions in another, as had been done in other colonies."'' Under 
this arrangement he could have the two members of the Assembly as advisors, 
while they retained their seats in the House. Thus would he have in the 
House men who were closely identified with the government, and that body 
would be the more easily controlled.^''' Instructions were accordingly sent 
during the following year by which the executive functions of the Council were 
vested in one body of men and the legislative in another. The maximum of 
membership in each Coimcil was fixed at nine members, three of whom could 
transact business."^ The members of the Council were appointed and were to 
sit during the pleasure of the Crown. The senior member in each was made 
the presiding officer, except when the Crovernor chose to preside in the Executive 
Council. Seniority was left determinable by rules made by the Crown.'" 

Cockburn Becomes Governor. 

When Blaney T. Balfour was placed in the government of the Bahamas 
his commission constituted him a Lieutenant-Governor and the governor's 
commission of his predecessor. Sir James Smyth, was continued. The latter, 
however, exercised no authority over the Bahamas after his departure in 1833. 
The authorities, in the Colonial Department at London at that time, had 
planned to grant a governor's commission to a person who should reside in 
some one of the West Indian colonies and exercise supervision over the gov- 

^1^ Cockburn to Russell, No. 28. 

=12 Cockburn to Russell, No. 28. 

"•^^Loc. cit., No. 28. 

=" Council votes, 1840, pp. 285-6, Mss. Vol. The original document bearing this 
instruction may be found in the oiRce of the Register of Lands at Nassau. 

=" Council votes. Loc. cit. An additional instruction was sent out at this 
time giving the names of the members of the Legislative Council. They were the 
Chief Justice for the time being, the Bishop of Jamaica (a seat later taken by the 
Archdeacon of the Bahamas), Patrick Brown, William Webb, Robert Sandilands, 
John Good, William Hield, John Storr and William Hamlyn, ranking in seniority in 
the order in which they were named in the instruction. In all other instances they 
were to rank in the order of their appointment. A change was made in this order 
soon after. 



536 HISTORY 

ernments of the others. The chief executives of the other colonies were to take 
rank as lieutenant-governors, which rank was less expensive to maintain than 
that of governor."' The plan was not put into execution. The Executive of 
the Bahamas ranked merely as a lieutenant-governor until 1840. On the 
death of Sir James Smyth in 1838 his commission as Governor thereby expired. 
Francis Cockburn, then in the government of the Bahamas, made application 
for promotion to the rank of Governor.'" With the consent of the Secretary of 
State he applied to the local Assembly to grant a sum as an increase in his 
salary."' The Assembly voted without dissent to grant the addition to his salary 
and a commission was accordingly sent out to Cockburn as Governor of the 
Bahamas, which dignity he assumed early in the summer of 1840.°" 

Temporaey Administration. 
Francis Cockburn obtained permission for a temporary absence from his 
government in the winter of 1840.°'° He was almost prepared to depart for 
England when John Irving, the senior member of the Council, who was to 
administer the government during his absence, died in a sudden attack of 
apoplexy.^^' This sad event led to a series of embarrassments to the Governor 
which delayed his departure for over two years.°'^ The next member of the 
Council in the order of seniority was the comptroller of the customs, who 
was excluded from the temporary administration by the colonial regulations. 
According to these same regulations the second member of the Council in 
the order of seniority would receive the commission to act as temporary admin- 
istrator.°'' Arrangements were completed by which Patrick Brown, now 

=1"^ It would seem that there was no reason for this in the Bahamas. The home 
government contributed the same amount to the salary of the Executive here, after 
the change, that it had paid before. The additional amount for the Governor's 
salary was made up by the Colony. At the request of the Secretary of State this 
portion contributed by the Colony had been discontinued. 

""Misc. Letter Book, 1838-50, separate Ds. of April 9, 1838, and Sept. 9, 1839. 
The expenses of the chief executive were represented to be such, that it was diffi- 
cult to maintain the dignity of that position at Nassau on the salary that was 
attached to the office. Besides the lieutenant-governor had to pay out of his salary 
for his private secretary and for the stationery for his official correspondence. The 
additional sum for the salary would be sought from the colonial legislature again. 

'-'^ Ds. S. St., 1838, No. 62. 

"=' Cockburn to Russell, Nos. 11 and 39 (1840). 

'-^ Cockburn to Russell, No. 6. 

=>'^ Loc. cit. 

=>^= He had sought the leave of absence for the sake of his health. 

=^=^ By this the commission would have fallen upon Patrick Brown, with John 
Storr as his alternate. The latter had a dormant commission as temporary admin- 
istrator. Loc. cit., Nos. 130 and 131 (1841). 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 537 

senior member, was to administer the government. The customary addresses 
had been presented and the Governor had set the 26th of July as the date on 
which he would sail. Four days before that time the July mail brought a 
commission to Charles E. Nesbitt, the Public Secretar}^ as Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor, thus placing him next the Governor, and in advance of all other claim- 
ants to the temporary administration in the absence of the Governor. New 
instructions also came for the swearing in anew of the members of the Ex- 
ecutive Council, in which George C. Anderson, the Attorney-General, was now 
to take rank next to the newly commissioned Lieutenant-Governor."^* If the em- 
barrassment to the Governor was great, the disappointment of the older mem- 
bers of his Council was greater. A mere seat in this Council gave weight and 
influence to the holder, but the desirability of holding a seat was greatly 
enhanced by the possibility of eventually becoming administrator of the 
government. By this new arrangement the older members were set aside 
and younger men, the most recent appointees, were placed above them in rank. 
The consistent and cordial support given to the Governors during so many 
years could not be expected to continue, if the older members were made to 
think that they were of less consequence than the then recent appointees."" 
This arrangement also threatened to break down the government control of 
the House of Assembly, since the public secretary would be compelled to 
resign his seat in the House on his assumption of the government. It had 
been far from the intention of the Governor, in making recommendations to 
the Colonial Department, to bring about such a state of affairs as this."^" Such 
tampering with the rank of members of the Council would not have encouraged 
men of high standing in the community to accept the tender of seats in it. 
Nevertheless the embarrassing instructions Avere followed out. The ceremony 
of swearing in the Council was performed amid the evident mortification of 
the older members."" Cockburn attempted to secure an arrangement by which 
the former senior member would assume the government, suspending the 
application of the new instruction. Nesbitt at first agreed to abide' by the 
preexisting arrangement. Afterwards he refused to do so and persisted in his 
determination to follow out the instruction."'* The Governor still delayed to 

==* Cockburn to Russell, No. 130. Ds. S. St., 1841, No. 107, enclosed instruction 
of May 1. 

^=^ Cockburn to Russell, No. 97. 

°°* Log. cit. 

=" Loc. cit., No. 131. 

"^ Loc. cit., No. 130. 



538 HISTORY 

take his departure/"" He insisted that Nesbitt should abide by the former 
agreement, and recommended that the Secretary of State should lend his influ- 
ence to enforce that agreement, and he determined to remain at ISTassau until 
he should receive a reply to his despatch making these recotomendations/'" 
Lord Eussell refused to make any change in the instruction. 

The Governor might now have hoped to go away from the Colony on his 
leave. But Nesbitt continued to embarrass him. The latter desired the 
use of Government House during his incumbency of the government in order 
that he might perform the social duties of the head of the government. The 
Governor had planned ±o leave the building vacant and to have it repaired 
dviring his absence.^^^ This caused further delay in the Governor's departure. 
He finally sailed in May, 1842, more than two years after the permission to 
leave was granted.^" 

This episode illustrates both the vanity of ISTesbitt and the strictness with 
which Francis Cockburn adhered to his business engagements. It was cer- 
tainly mortifying to the older inhabitants to be set aside for the younger men, 
but doing it in this instance did not endanger the public interests. Charles E. 
Nesbitt was an active public man and made an efficient administrator. His 
elevation to the position was made through no mistake of the Secretary of State. 
His ability was perhaps second to that of none of those who administered the 
government of the Colony. °^^ 

°^^ Nesbitt's and Anderson's names had stood at the head of the list in the in- 
struction for swearing in the Council. In his despatch No. 97, of March 12, 1841, 
Cockburn recommended that they should be placed at the bottom of the list. Lord 
John Russell replied that the appointment of Nesbitt, and the new instruction, had 
been made advisedly, and that no change would be made. Ds., S. St., 1841, No. 
110 (Aug. 28). 

='° Cockburn to Russell, No. 130. 

^^^ Cockburn had consulted his Council, in which Nesbitt was sitting, on this 
matter and it had not occurred to the latter to raise objections to the vacancy of the 
building during the Governor's absence. The Council had concurred with the 
Governor in his resolve to repair the house. It had not been occupied by former 
temporary administrators. Cockburn regarded this conduct as discourtesy on the 
part of Nesbitt. (Ds. to Russell, No. 132.) On July 31, the Governor wrote further: 
" During the last twenty years it has not been expected that the temporary adminis- 
trator of the Government should with his limited salary give public entertainments 
and it has not been done. ... I am anxious that Government House should be 
vacant during my absence. I solicit your assistance again in sanctioning the 
previous agreement." (Ds. to Russell, No. 136). 

==^ Nesbitt to Stanley, No. 1. 

=^^ After his return from England, Francis Cockburn wrote to the Secretary of 
State as follows: " I have much satisfaction in testifying to the zeal and eflBiciency 
with which he has conducted the various departments of the public trust which 



the bahama islands 539 

Ecclesiastical Affairs. 

There was an established church in the Bahamas. This church was an 
adaptation of the Anglican Church to the Colony, but with a very poor equip- 
ment for serving the religious needs of the people. The Colony of the 
Bahamas was in the bishopric of Jamaica.^'* The remoteness of the bishop, 
from this part of his see, almost cut off the Colony from the advantage that 
might have resulted to the local church from his ministrations. If he had 
resided in London the church would have derived as much benefit from his 
direction. The Colony was meagerly supplied with clergymen and churches. 
Of thirteen parishes only two: had clergymen in 1835 when the parish of St. 
Thomas at Turks Islands was granted a minister."^" The population of the 
Bahamas approximated 25,000 and was much scattered. There were 
a few thickly settled communities. Harbor Island, one of the most 
important of these, had only a Wesleyan chapel. The Assembly voted in 
1835 to supply this place with a church and clergyman.'^^ At ISTew Provi- 
dence in the parishes of Christ Church and St. Matthews were two poorly 
paid clergymen whose duties inside and outside of their parishes bore heavily 
on them."" In addition to their parochial duties they were the com- 
missaries of the bishop, in the Bahamas.^^' Some other chapels depended on 
the incumbents of these two places. The rector of Christ Church was also 

he has held. In my opinion in talents and in all other respects he is qualified to 
conduct the duties of any appointment to which you may be pleased to nominate 
him." (Cockburn to Stanley, No. 7 (1843) ). Nesbitt remained in the Bahamas 
until his death in 1867. He administered the government several times. Seniority 
in the Executive Council and the succession to the temporary administration were 
determined in a peculiar way after this time. Lord Stanley of the Colonial Depart- 
ment ruled that the acting public secretary should become (ex-offlcio) senior mem- 
ber of the Executive Council and entitled thereby to administer the government on 
the death or absence of the governor, or of the temporary administrator (Ds., S. St., 
No. 38, also Nesbitt to Stanley, No. 6). The temporary public secretary, according 
to the ruling of Lord Russell in the previous year, was to be appointed by the admin- 
istrator of the government for the time being, who in this case was the public 
secretary. Before the public secretary vacated his office to assume the government, 
his own office would not be vacant, therefore the governor could not appoint a 
successor to him. (Ds.. S. St., 1841, No. 110.) 

During the summer of 1903, on the absence of the Governor, the public secre- 
tary acted as administrator of the government. 

'^'^Ds., S. S., 1824, circ. of Dec. 8. 

'^^^ Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 54. 

^^•'H. v., 1834-5, p. 106 and 118. 

^" Loc. cit. 

=== Cockburn to Stanley, No. 22 (1842). 



540 HISTORY 

chaplain of the troops at IsTassaii. Conditions in the Out-islands were A^erjr 
backward in this respect. At Eock Sound a population of 2500 had neither 
church nor minister. The greater part of the remainder of the Colony was 
equally destitute. Some of the settlements up to 1835 were neglected by 
ministers or religious teachers. The Colony supplied of itself almost no 
ministers. It depended on those sent out from the mother country, wlio 
were better qualified for the duties to be performed here. 

The stipendiary magistrates brought back from their circuits reports of 
religious destitution. Francis Cockburn still found the same state of things 
existing on his tour of inspection in 1840."'° ■ Long Island had appealed for 
assistance in building a church in 1835.''° Other islands were calling on the 
government for the same purpose. Repeated and urgent appeals were made 
to the home government and to the Society for the Propagation of the Gros- 
pel, to send ministers to the Bahamas."^ In addition to what was received 
from these sources, the Colony was able to make small appropriations for in- 
crease in the church establishment.^'^ The local Assembly was reluctant, 
however, to make appropriations of public money for churches in places where 
the dissenters had already gained a foothold. It had caught some of the 
current spirit of determination to ameliorate the condition of the negroes, 
but it could not keep pace with the needs as they arose. What the local 
established church lacked was in part made up by the various religious socie- 
ties in the mother country. They too were making great efforts for tlie 
emancipated classes. But these societies had to deal Avith the whole of t]ie 
West Indies, and the Bahamas were but a small part of that large field. As 
it was in the case of the special justices in the apprenticeship system, so in 
the case of the church, an insufficient number of men were sent out and they^ 
were not capable of accomplishing the task that lay before the church. The 
funds available were inadequate to meet the needs of those who were disposed 
to supply them. In 1840 an additional clergyman was assigned to parochial 
duties at New Providence, and two others were provided for the purpose of' 
visiting the Out-islands. The superintendent of the Carmichael School acted 
as a chaplain. This made a total of seven clergymen of the established church 

'i^" Cockburn to Russell, No. 20. 

=^»H. v., 1835-6, p. 32. 

"^Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 54; Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 36 (1837); Cock- 
burn to Russell, No. 20 (1840). 

"2 H. v., 1834, p. 118, Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 36, and Cockburn to Glenelg,. 
No. 36 (1837). 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 541 

in the Colony.'*^ The visits of the bishop Avere so infrequent that attempts 
were made to secure an administrative officer of the chnrch to reside in the 
Bahamas. This part of the work fell on already overworked clergy- 
men."* The application resulted in the raising of the Bahamas to the rank 
of an archdeaconate. An incumbent of the place was seated in 1843. 

The Dissentees. 

The dissenters were more active than the established church in meeting 
the religious needs of the people. They had long been working in the Colony, 
but their influence among the lower classes was regarded as a dangerous 
leaven, and restrictions were placed upon them to check their progress. Some 
of these restrictions were removed during the agitation over the slavery ques- 
tion, but some of them remained until long after that time. Dissenting min- 
isters were not allowed to perform funeral ceremonies in certain of the 
public burying-grounds. Even more harrowing restrictions as to marriages 
were retained until 1836.'*' By these regulations a dissenting minister could 
not legally perform -a marriage ceremony in a community where there was an 
Anglican clergyman. In 1836 a number of marriages that had been cele- 
brated by dissenters at the Turks Islands were legalized by a special act of 
the legislature.'*'^ 

The Scotch Church Avas recognized by the government and was aided by 
the public funds, but it made no attempts to carry on extensive work among the 
negroes. The Wesleyans and Baptists were most active. These two bodies 
sent capable leaders to the Bahamas. The Wesleyans seemed to pursue the 
policy of locating where the established church was already planted.'*^ The 
Baptists struck out into new fields in addition to those which others had occu- 
pied. These sectarians were evangelists, not catechists. The old restrictions 
on the preaching of ignorant persons had been removed, and negroes now 
entered the lists of ministers."*' Francis Cockburn, himself a churchman 
almost to the point of bigotry, saw in this the most dire consequences threat- 
ening the Colony. He desired the strict licensing of all preachers and teach- 
ers of religion, and inquired of Lord Glenelg as to the expediency of thus 

=^' Cockburn to Russell, No. 44. 

^** Cockburn to Stanley, No. 22. 

=^' See account of difficulty in regard to this in H. V., 1835-6, pp. 43-45 and 64. 

'^^"H. v., 1835-36, p. 64. 

^" Cockburn to Russell, No. 44. 

«^^ Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 105. 



542 HISTORY 

restraining these dangerous persons. In 1840 came Henry Capern, a Baptist 
missionary, preaching freedom of worship and freedom of attendance on relig- 
ious services, and the fear of God, not of man."^^ On his arrival at ISTassau 
he failed to notify the Grovernor of his coining. Entering at once on the 
work of his mission he was very successful. The negroes flocked to hear him 
and great numbers of them allied themselves with his congregation. Even 
the scholars from the Anglican schools went over to him. His methods 
annoyed the Governor. The latter became much more urgent for an increase 
in the clerical staff of the Anglican body.™" Cockburn thought that Capern 
was discourteous to him, as Governor, and that his teaching was dangerous to 
the public order. The latter refused to sign the indenture for the appren- 
ticeship of a negro girl, objecting that it was " against his principles as a 
Baptist to sign a contract which required attendance on the worship of the 
established church." He wrote articles for an opposition newspaper at ISTas- 
sau, which added to the irritation of the Governor."^' His unlettered negro 
helpers preached in the streets. Cockburn complained that this missionary 
was attempting to weaken the gratitude of the negroes to the home govern- 
ment, by insinuating that the Baptist missionary society was largely respon- 
sible for their emancipation. The Governor advised that the society which 
had sent out this preacher should be asked to recall him, and that a warning 
be sent to them as to the choice of his successor.^'^ But the insubordination so 
much feared as a result of this man's work never occurred. The j)ublic peace 
was not disturbed on account of him. The Governor, loyal to his own church, 
disliked to see the people leave it for the sectarians. After Cockburn's de- 
parture from the Bahamas the dangerous character of the missionary disap- 
peared, for he gave no such anxiety to Governor Mathew, the next Governor. 
Cockburn disavowed any belief in compulsion in religious matters,"^' but the 
course he advised was hardly in harmony with this statement. 

In the Out-islands, especially, the sectarians gained among the negroes. 
In many of these places only dissenters came to teach the people. In such com- 

^^ Cockburn to Russell, No. 104. 

°^ Cockburn to Russell, No. 44, and to Stanley, No. 11. In the latter despatch 
he wrote: " Two or three additional clergymen .... are needed. It is lamentable 
to see the lower classes driven into the congregations of the sectarians, more par- 
ticularly the Baptists, which are increasing every hour from the insuflBciency of the 
numbers in our own church to afford that moral instruction that is so much needed." 

=*=^ Cockburn to Russell, No. 149. McClure, the Scotch minister, was implicated 
in these publications. 

'^^^ Loc. cit. 

^" Loc. cit. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 543 

munities almost the whole population would attend their places of worship/^* 
Difficulties arose in some places. At Exuma feeling rose high between the 
Baptists and the churchmen. A magistrate exacted pledges of a Baptist min- 
ister not to hold public services. The pledges were not well kept. The magis- 
trates attempted to restrain the minister and to quiet public feeling.''" The 
difficulty was not settled at once. At last when it was composed a virtual 
victory had been gained for the dissenters. 

The Education" op the Negroes. 

This little Colony made great efforts to educate the classes that were so 
long held in bondage. The wishes of the home government in many respects 
were disregarded, but in this one particular the local people attempted to 
follow the recommendations made to them as nearly as their limited means 
would permit. When the negroes emerged from slavery there were almost 
no means of education in the Bahamas outside of the meager facilities at 
ISTassau and on New Providence Island. The local legislature had always 
been as ]3arsimonious in making grants for educational purposes as for other 
things. ISTothing like a permanent grant was attempted. In some cases 
grants that had been made were withdrawn after a few years, and the schools 
were allowed to decline. The teaching staff was not kept up and the character 
of the work done was very bad. The better class of the inhabitants placed 
little dependence on these schools. Those who could bear the expense, edu- 
cated their children in England or often in the States. It became a matter 
of regret to the Grovernors that the latter country was resorted to for the 
education of the children of British subjects, for strange ideas were imbibed 
there, and respect for the institutions of the mother country was not increased 
thereby.''^ A great obstacle to the progress of schooling lay in the lack of 
equipment. There were few buildings or other material things adapted to the 
use of schools.'" Within fifteen years after the emancipation of the slaves 
great strides were made, however, in this respect. The resources 
on which to rely were small, but they Avere husbanded with great care, 
and these interests were given the preference over all other claims on the 

="Mathew to Stanley, No. 77. 
="I/Oc. cit., No. 42. 
^'^^ Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 16. 

^"Reports of Special Justices in Sess. P., 1836, 49, pp. 543-5. At the time these 
reports were made some school houses had been built on the Out-islands. 



544 HISTORY 

public purse. Compared with other colonies, where there were vastly greater 
material resources, the Bahamas set an example that was worthy of imitation.'"* 
The first efforts in educating the negroes at public expense were 
made by Sir James Smyth, with the liberated Africans, at the settlements at 
Adelaide, Carmichael and Headquarters."" Buildings were erected at each 
of these places and superintendents were placed in charge of the schools. The 
Assembly was at daggers' points with the G-overnor and would furnish no 
funds for these enterprises at first.""" The home government supplied some 
funds,'"" however, and special grants were made for educational purposes in some 
instances. In 1835 Parliament made an appropriation of £25,000 to be applied 
for general educational purposes, through the agency of the various societies 
that were undertaking the religious education of the negroes."" Further appro- 
priations were made by the same body in aid of the schools established by 
the British and Foreign School Society."" These schools were continued as 
established, under the control of the Anglican Church, until after the passing 
of the apprenticeship system. 

Question of the Control of the Schools. 

One of the greatest needs of this Colony arose from the scarcity of per- 
sons competent to teach school. There had been no school for the training 
of teachers in the Colony. In many of the Out-island communities there 
were not only no teachers, but there was no one qualified to read the Scrip- 
tures to the people. The few native teachers were themselves so ignorant as 
to deter parents from sending to them at all.'"^ Measures were imperatively 
necessary to provide for the training of teachers. An attempt to supply this 
need was made by the managers of the Mico Charity Fund. A normal train- 

5»8 Governor John Gregory on his arrival in 1849 stated in his first address to 
the Assembly that he " had had more than ordinary opportunity to compare what 
the Bahamas had done for education with what other more wealthy colonies have 
done, and notwithstanding your limited revenue and the heavy expense of the 
various departments of the public service, you have set an example worthy of imita- 
tion in giving the religious and intellectual training of the people a preference over 
all other demands on the public purse." H. V., 1849, 96. Francis Cockburn wrote 
to Lord Glenelg in 1837 that he knew of no colony where the means of education 
had been more liberally supplied than in the Bahamas. Ds., No. 51, to Glenelg. 

==^ Balfour to Stanley, No. 28. 

'"^ Smyth's Ds., Nos. 31 and 72. 

'^'^Loc. cit., No. 72, and Ds., S. St., 1831, No. 13. 

°^^Ds., S. St., 1835, No. 32. On the conditions of these grants see loc. cit., 
circ. Ds. of Nov. 16, 1835. 

^^^ Loc. cit., circular of Nov. 16, 1835. 

°" Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 5. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 545 

ing school was established by them at Nassau. This institution was managed 
independently of the government and of the church.""" The conduct of it by 
its superintendent was far from satisfactory to Francis Cockburn. The 
master attempted to show independence of the government by writing to 
the Secretary of State without sending his communication through the regu- 
lar channel of the Executive/^^ and schools were established and removed 
without any reference to the government. The school at Kassau was 
well attended/" but Cockburn feared that the policy pursued by its man- 
agers would not serve to the best advantage the interests of those whom the 
fund Avas intended to benefit.'"^ Perhaps the secret of the Governor's dissatis- 
faction with the conduct of this school was that the teaching of the catechism 
was left out in its courses, and that the rules governing it were calculated to 
meet the wishes of the sectarians.''^'' 

Before 1835 the Assembly had almost absolutely refused to provide for 
negro education out of the funds at its disposal. In that year an Assembly 
had been secured which was in a working mood and which was possessed with 
a disposition to benefit the freedmen. At that time began their real efforts 
to educate. Hitherto color lines had existed in the public schools. There 
was now a nominal disappearance of these lines of distinction "" and a deter- 
mination to work for the common intellectual training of all classes. The 
House of Assembly had at last caught the idea that it was in its province 
to provide means of education, primarily with a view of " disposing men to 
the worship of God.'' °'^ A general comprehensive system of education was to 
be provided. A board of education was formed with the Governor as its 
president. It was given power to make rules and regulations for the govern- 
ment of all public schools in the Colony.^" Local commissioners of schools 
were authorized. The liturgy and the catechism were to be taught, and the 
books used were to be such as were approved by the clergy of the Anglican 
"Church. A certain attendance on the worship of the established church was 
enjoined on all scholars."* The Governor appointed a commission of over 

^^^ Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 51. 
'«^ Cockburn to Russell, No. 135. 
"' Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 90. 
^^Loc. cit., No. 44. 
^^'Loc. cit., No. 104. 
"'o Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 16. 
'"^ H. v., 1835-6, pp. 99-100. 
=" 6 William IV, 17. 
^''^ Log. cit. 
35 ■ " 



546 HISTORY 

fifty members, composed of persons of different religious persuasions, includ- 
ing, ministers both of the established church and of the dissenting congrega- 
tions."' The whole Colony was interested in this educating enterprise. Under 
the direction of the Grovernor a plan was formed for a school to articulate 
with King's College at London. Private subscriptions were made for this 
purpose and the legislature made an appropriation to further it.^"' 
The King extended his patronage to this institution,"" but the task before the 
Colony was too great to be accomplished at once. Considering the chronic 
low state of the revenues, liberal appropriations were made, but they proved 
entirely inadequate to meet the requirements -of those who were interested in 
the educational enterprises of the Bahamas."" 

The board of education began its work under the impulse of the first 
agitation of the school question. Unanimity of counsels, which prevailed at 
first, continued only for a short time. The Governor, as president, had only 
a casting vote in this body of nearly sixty members.^'* The church of the 
Bahamas had had control of all the public schools of the Colony up to this 
time; it was not now disposed to relinquish that control, although the dis- 
senters were granted a voice in the too numerous board. The regulations of 
the schools as far as they had been made were such as the churchmen desired. 
The Madras system of teaching, in which the catechism held a prominent 
place, was introduced, and churchmen were planning to conduct the schools- 
on strict Anglican Church lines. The dissenters objected to this. They 
opposed motions having this in view, in the meetings of the board. Angry 
discussions ensued and contested points were discussed with increasing ill- 
feeling. The president of the board ceased to attend the meetings."" The 
stormy sessions continued with no apparent hope of reconciling the opposing 
parties. A contest was here taking form which was to stir up the Colony for 
several years. Attempts to remedy the existing evils were not wanting. A 
change in the constitution of the board was accomplished in 1839. In the 

"*Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 16 (1836). 

°'^ Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 49. 

"" King's College school was never very successful, although it had the prestige 
of the King's patronage. After several years of varying success, the premises 
on which it was located were sold by authority of the legislature. This occurred 
in 1849. 12 Vic, 3, Colonial Statutes. 

"^ Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 51. 

™ Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 24. 

"" Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 24. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 5Vi 

new body the clergy of the Anglican and Scotch churches were made mem- 
bers^ and five additional members were appointed by the Governor. The- 
senior members of the Wesleyan and Baptist missions were appointed, together 
with others who were admittedly favorable to the established church/*" This- 
would have perpetuated the control by the established church. The dissent- 
ers would not submit to it. ISTo pretensions to harmony in the board were 
made this time. Stormy sessions and acrimonious discussions occurred with 
heightened ill-feeling.'''' The dissenters had petitioned against this plan when 
it was first proposed. It had passed the legislature in spite of them and 
they were determined that it should not operate as its movers had intended. 
The life of this new board was but two years in length. 

The people were becoming generally stirred up over the control of their 
educational system. The board created in 1839 was even less satisfactory 
than the one before it had been. Agitation for changes in its constitution was- 
kept up in order to create a demand for a change. Some proposed to make- 
the Governor-in-council a supervisory board. The board of education itself 
petitioned against this as a supercession of the Council to its functions. Such 
objection was easily sustained. But a change of some kind had to be made.. 
The old board was able to accomplish little; the Colony having entered into, 
the educating work was not now to be allowed to leave off, after having- 
gone so far. A board more satisfactory to all classes had become a necessity. 
The matter was brought into the House of Assembly. A vacant seat in the- 
House became the occasion of a hard-fought contest at Harbor Island to- 
return a member to fill it. Lieutenant Hamilton, a known supporter of the 
government, was opposed by a leader of the AVesleyan Methodists. The dis- 
senting congregations joined together in support of the latter, and in strong- 
opposition to the f ormer.''*" The result of the election was the return of Lieu- 
tenant Hamilton, but this election marked well the character of the contest 
that had come. Public feeling over the education question rose higher than 
ever. The majority in the legislature were favorably disposed to the estab- 
lished church. Proposals to it were likely to be such as the dissenters would 
oppose. They contested every step. The education bill that was finally 
passed was favorable enough to the established church, but it Avas very differ- 

=^° Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 22. 

^^^ Loc. cit. Cockburn requested a suspension of the royal confirmation of tlie 
act constituting this board. 

'*= Cockburn to Russell, No. 95. 



548 HISTORY 

ent from the bill with which the discussions were begun.^'" During the debates 
on this measure Messrs. Capern and MaCiure were in constant attendance at 
the House of Assembly, " appearing as most active partisans/' '"■' As the bill 
emerged finally, the board, for which it provided, differed from that of 1836 
only in that the clergy of all denominations were excluded from this one/'^ 
This provision was inserted because it seemed impossible otherwise to recon- 
cile the opposing parties. It was now left to parents to decide whether their 
children should be taught the catechism and what church they should attend. 
After the passage of this measure the two ministers, who had taken such active 
interest in it, memorialized the Queen, protesting against it as a one-sided 
measure. It was as far from pleasing the Anglican clergy as the clergy of 
the dissenters, because of the small deference paid to them.^'" The board fol- 
lowed the general lines of the Madras system of education, Avith the exception 
of the catechism for those children whose parents objected to it.''" Agitation 
did not cease for months after the bill became a law. The Baptist missionary 
continued to be such a source of annoyance to the Governor, on the education 
question, that the latter repeated his request fr the recall of that gentleman.*** 
Attempts were made to secure the repeal of this act. IsTo further changes 
were made, however, for three years."*" 

^' Cockburn wrote after the contest that " nothing short of being placed on 
a dead level with the established church would suit their (the dissenters') views." 
He was persuaded that there was more ambition than conscience in their conduct. 
Cockburn to Russell, Nos. 95 and 104. 

^^Loc. cit. 

'^' 4 Vic, 5. 

^^^ Cockburn to Russell, No. 104. A member of the Executive Council thought 
that nothing short of the appointment of Messrs. Capern and MaCiure would have 
satisfied the dissenters. Of those who were likely to be appointed to the board of 
education, the great majority were members of the established church. As 
Cockburn was to appoint the members of the board, it could not be doubtful as to 
the complexion of it. He appointed the Chief Justice, the Speaker of the House, 
one member of his Council, the Surveyor-General and the Public Secretary. A 
clergyman at New Providence refused to accept the tender of the Governor to make 
him a visitor of the schools. Loc. cit., No. 146. 

=*' Cockburn to Russell, Nos. 86 and 146. 

'«« Cockburn to Russell, Nos. 104 and 149. 

=**^Note on Cockburn and Capern. Capern's conduct from his first arrival in 
the Colony was objected to by the Governor. His failure to notify the Governor 
of his arrival was perhaps a discourtesy which could not escape the notice of the 
latter. Cockburn objected to Capern because he did not confine himself to spirit- 
ual instruction but meddled in politics. (Ds. to Russell, No. 95.) His teaching 
among the ignorant people at Carmichael was objectionable. He professed to have 
been sent out by the Queen for the special protection of the negroes. He disturbed 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS * 5 19 

A Contest for Eeligious Equality. 

This contest was entered into by the dissenters with a determined spirit. 
Their conduct was a part of the nineteenth century protest against a state 
church system, transferred to a small corner of the British Empire. It had 
its significance for the Bahamas. Some such contests had been fought out 
in the British colonies on the continent, before they won their independence 
from the British Crown. The Anglican Church had long been established 
in the Bahamas. It had the prestige of the support of the government backed 
by a great church system in the mother country. It had intrenched itself in 
the very life of the Colony; it had acquired control not only of the schools 
but also of other things as Avell. State and church went hand in hand, and 
through the latter the former controlled much in the life of the Colony. The 
majority of the upper classes of society attended its worship. The dissenters, 
on the other hand, had become very active only with the emancipation of the 
negroes, and gained influence chiefly among the lower classes. Their teach- 
ing had become so widespread that at this time they were able to begin 
taking privileges from the established church. The contest was now only 
fairly begun. The sectarians were here contending for recognition in the 
Colony of equal rights to all denominations of Christians. This partial vic- 
tory was only a step in the long contest to deprive the established church of 

the contentment of the Carmichael pople. These and other things were reported 
to Cockburn. The latter deprecated the tone of a letter that was written to these 
people as filled with "designing insinuations and misrepresentations." (Ds. to 
Russell, No. 104.) This letter enclosed in this despatch is in substance as follows: 
" Do not be terrified by authorities into attending this or that place of worship. Go 
wherever your heart inclines you. No man can interfere with you. If I cannot 
obtain justice for you at Nassau I will in England. Do not fear that the Queen 
will sanction your persecutors' conduct. You have the same rights as any white 
man in the West Indies. If you can be compelled to attend to religious matters, I 
can be also. Fear God and you have nothing else to fear." 

Capern's methods in enticing the negroes away from the established church 
were odious to Cockburn. " The blacks of this island," he wrote, " are with few 
exceptions his followers." The Governor also charged that the missionary was 
misleading the people as to their duty to the state. " He seems to tell them that 
they are not to be controlled by any opinion expressed by the authorities or by 
recommendations from them, for Her Majesty had sent him out for their special 
protection." 

Cockburn does not appear to have been justified in making so many com- 
plaints against the conduct of this man. The secret of his feeling would appear 
to be that the mission which Capern was conducting flourished at the expense of 
the established church, of which in his own words, the Governor had " always 
been a warm supporter." Ds. to Russell, No. 146. See also Ds. to Stanley, No. 
11. See also above, note 550. 



550 HISTORY 

its control of the Colony. They saw in the state church a danger to religious 
equality. At this time when the negroes were coming to command them- 
selves as free subjects, it seemed meet to the dissenters to break up this survival 
'of an old order of things before the new citizenship became adjusted to it. 
Thus would future generations be spared the necessity of throwing off a 
vexatious system, that would in their day become more securely fastened on 
;the Colony. The churchmen had been so accustomed to the control of the 
schools, dictating their policies and imposing their spirit on them, that they 
were reluctant to surrender that privilege. They could not regard lightly 
such agitation as this. It caused serious concern to them that the movement 
had arisen. They resisted with a determination second only to that of those 
who were assailing their church. The old prejudices that had existed in 
former times in the mother country were here to control the conduct of men. 
The Governor, though not active ill the contest, was as filled with prejudice 
as any man within the confines of the Bahamas. Only slight advantages were 
gained at this time, but the grasp of the church was shaken. The contest was 
to be kept up until the Church of England in the Bahamas was disendowed 
and denied a preference in claims on the public purse. 

Upon the location of an archdeacon in the Bahamas the incumbent of 
that position was made a member of the school board and chairman of the 
body.'"" In the following year the number of the commissioners was changed 
to seven, exclusive of the archdeacon. They were all laymen and appointed 
annually by the Governor.""^ Changes were made in response to representa- 
tions of the dissenters that their clergy were excluded from membership on 
the board. AVhether Francis Cockburn was partially responsible for the dis- 
sensions in the board, during his administration, is not easily determinable. 
It appears, however, that that body was less disturbed after his departure from 
the Colony. It is probable that the excited feelings of the people had had 
time to grow calm, when his successor arrived. On the expiration of the 
■education act of 1844 objection to it was so strong that it could not be re- 
newed. An attempt was made to give the new board a more exclusively 
'Church of England formation. This was met by more extensive demands 
•cm the part of the dissenters. The new board was created as a committee of 
the Executive Council. The board could regulate the religious and .secular 
work for the schools, but any minister had power to protest against any books 

='■«' 7 Vic, 14. 

^"1 8 Vic, 13 and Mathew to Stanley, No. 100. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 551 

or methods employed that were objectionable. Agricultural and mechanical 
subjects were introduced into the curriculum. An inspector of schools was 
created.'"' The execution of these acts was beset with difficulties. At New 
Providence conditions were more favorable than in any other part of the 
Colony. Here the schools were most successful in operation. But there was 
by no means a well-developed system on this island. In the Out-islands the 
conditions were still very discouraging. There were almost no buildings, 
there were no competent teachers. The ignorance of the people was deplor- 
able in an atmosphere in which children were growing up and coming to 
maturity without even the rudiments of an education. The funds of the 
Colony were so low that it seemed impossible to make rapid progress in improv- 
ing conditions. A drouth cut off the crops in the summer of 1844, the debt 
of the Colony seemed to increase rather than diminish, and, in 1848, the 
Turks Islands, which had furnished a large portion of the revenues, were cut 
off from the Colony. Such were the conditions against which those who were 
tr3dng to lift this veil of ignorance had to contend. A letter written by a 
schoolmaster at Eock Sound, Eleuthera, gives an idea of the prevailing con- 
ditions : " We opened school in this district on the 6th September in a house 
hired from the Wesleyan mission in this place, as no other could be found. 
ISTo repairs have yet been attempted to be made on the premises, which the 
board of education agreed to hire from Mr. Sands, and I am inclined to think 
that nothing will be done to them. There were 85 children admitted to the 
school when it was first opened, and I regret to say that as many more were 
refused admission for want of room. The house we have hired is 18 by 21 
feet, the only one we could get on the settlement for the purpose, and it is 
far too small. We have scarce room to form a class in it. It is much to be 
regretted that the youth of this settlement have been so long neglected. There 
is scarcely one in twenty of the inhabitants of IsTew Portsmouth who can read 
and write. This is the case with man, woman and child, yet there is not a 
finer looking set of people than the young ones of this settlement. They all 
seem very anxious to be taught, and I have partly promised the young adults 
to attend two or three times a week when we have a larger schoolhouse and 
instruct them in the evening in a new and larger house on the commence- 
ment of the new year." °'^ 

=»nO Vic, caps. 1 and 26. Also Mathew to Grey, No. 12. It should be ob- 
served, that in all these schools, rates were paid by all patrons except a few poor 
persons whom the visitors in each district designated as non-rate-payers. This 
was the rule, the observance of it was not strict. 

=»^Nesbitt to Grey, No. 49 (1847). 



553 HISTORY 

In spite of the adverse conditions, efforts to educate the poorer classes 
of the Colony were unremitting. With ever low revenues a steady increase 
in the appropriations was made, in order to keep pace with the growing needs 
of the educational establishment. A complete change had taken place in the 
attitude of the legislature towards those who had lately been slaves. For- 
merly the members of that body had excused themselves from working to 
ameliorate the condition of this class, and had attempted to lay the respon- 
sibility for that condition on the mother country; now on the other hand 
the responsibility was assumed by the colonists, and there came an ever- 
increasing determination to place before the negroes the best opportunities 
for amelioration which the Colony, with the limited resources at its command , 
could furnish. - 

Land System. 

While efforts were being made to educate the negroes, it was not for- 
gotten that provision must be made for their material welfare. As agricul- 
ture was the principal source of wealth in the Colony, it was necessary to put 
land into the hands of the emancipated classes. Looking at the whole group 
of the Bahamas it would appear that hero would be a large surface for culti- 
vation. The Islands are, in places, too barren for profitable cultivation. The 
coral rock, of which they are formed, is at best covered with only a thin veneer 
of soil, while in many places it has been washed bare by the rains. The 
surface of this rock is full of so-called " pot-holes " in which the soil collects. 
Into these openings plants are set as in flower pots. This thin soil was 
seriously injured and in many places exhausted, through the over-production 
of cotton by American royalists who came to the Colony after the American 
Eevolution. Long before the emancipation of the slaves, these exiled planters 
had exhausted the best soils of the Colony, after which many of them had 
emigrated to places where they could carry on more profitable farming. 
After the' emancipation, a new citizenship had arisen and the authori- 
ties determined to settle them on these same waste lands. A great deal 
of the land that had been occupied formerly was again in the hands of 
the Crown, owing to lapsed titles, and was thus available in that sense 
for settlement. The authorities in the government evidently knew not 
the experience of former attempts to cultivate these unproductive wastes. 
Especially was this true of William. Colebrooke, who made such exten- 
sive plans for the settlements of these Africans. Some means had to be 
provided by which these poor people could maintain themselves. Colebrooke 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 553 

thought he saw what was needed in the vacant lands. He would let down a 
helping hand to the people, and place them in a position Avhere with a little 
exertion they could prosper. 

The special magistrates under the apprenticeship system had, as an im- 
portant dut3vto take account of any vacant lands in the Colony that were 
favorable for settlement.'"" They reported several places that seemed suitable 
for this purpose. °°' But it was not intended to throw these lands open 
suddenly for settlement at the pleasure of the negroes, for whose benefit 
they were to be granted. Precautions were necessary to prevent danger to 
the value of property, and the more permanent interests of society. The 
progress of the occupation of the lands was to be held in check, the 
negroes to be guided into the production of staple crops, and not allowed to 
go where there was promise of immediate but merely temporary gains. The 
facility of obtaining lands was diminished and only cautious distribution on 
proper terms was to be allowed. The squatter was to be fought at every turn. 
The price of land was put so high that it was out of reach of the poorest 
class, and indeed of all who had not saved some capital.°^^ Thus it was hoped 
to keep all the lands under the control of the government and promote a 
sound moral and econojnic state. The disposal of any lands otherwise than 
by public sale was forbidden.'^'"^ Thorough cultivation was to be promoted 
and the possession of land made an object of reasonable desire to all. The 
granting of land to families and gratuitous grants were no longer permitted.^"* 

Quit Eents. 

Most of the Bahama lands that had been cultivated had been held under 
the quit rent tenure. The regulations governing these holdings had not been 
strictly applied. Very loose methods had prevailed in the management of 
them. Quit rents had fallen into arrears and the holders were careless in 
paying what was due.^"' Many holders were unable to pay. Even at the rate 
of a penny or a half-penny per acre rents were left unpaid, the lands on 

'"^ Sess. P., 1836, 49, p. 512. , * 

'^^Loc. cit., pp. 543-5. 

"'^'Ds., S. St., 1836, circ. of Jan. 20. This was the general outline of the land 
policy that was to be followed. The details were worked out afterwards. 

'■^'' Loc. cit: This forbade the granting of lands under the quit rent tenure. 
See this circular in Sess. P., 1836, 48, p. 49 (10-11). 

''' Ds., S. St., 1833, No. 106. 

'== Smyth's Ds., No. 178. 



554 HISTORY 

which they were owing often selling for no more than 2d. or 5d. per acre.'"* 
On many of these vacant lands not more than one acre in ten was fit for cul- 
tivation.""' It is not to be wondered at that the payment of quit rents Fas 
difficult to secure. The practice of remitting to delinquents also had gone so 
far that it would seem that arrears were allowed to accumulate, the holders 
anticipating that there would eventually be another remission of all they 
owed. In many instances the arrears amounted to more than the value of 
the land. If pressed for payment, the holders of such lands would prefer to 
surrender their titles rather than undertake to pay arrears in full. In 1831 
the total arrears amounted to nearly £5000.!"' A remission was petitioned 
for,™' but was not secured until 1833.""' In 1833 was begun a more diligent 
application of the regulations of these holdings. Instructions were sent 
from home for a more strict collection of rents together with arrears due 
from June, 1830, up to which time they had been remitted. The lands were 
not dear enough to cause all holders to respond to the demands of the col- 
lector. By 1835 the arrears were so great that over 100,000 acres of land 
from these holdings had reverted to the Crown.""" A better collection was 
secured from this time forward. No more lands were granted under this 
tenure, and a more determined policy was followed as to those already held 
under it. 

Failure of Close Settlements. 

While the apprenticeship system was in operation, it was determined to 
settle the negroes on vacant lands whenever they were able to make pur- 
chases. Hitherto, alienation of land in fee simple had been very limited in 
amount. The demand for such possession must have been very small, since 
so much land could be obtained under the quit rent tenure, payments on 
which were badly collected.""" The abolition of slavery and the creation 
of new freemen, who were possible purchasers of land, greatly enhanced its 
value. Competition in some of the new settlements was very strong.""' Meas- 
ures were adopted which were calculated to promote the appropriation of land 

^'^Loc. cit. 

^" H. v., 1831, p. 101. 

•="2 Smyth's Ds., No. 82. 

™=H. v., 1831, pp. 101-2. 

«"H. v., 1825, p. 92. 

^"^H. v., 1835, pp. 92-94. 

^^ Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 27. 

"<" Loc. cit., No. 27. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 555 

binder proprietary titles. Townships and close settlements were formed and 
Crown lands outside of these places were not put up for sale.""' Inside of these 
settlements only small lots were sold, thus tending to concentrate the popu- 
lation in them. A portion of the proceeds of sales was devoted to the build- 
ing of roads, digging public wells, and making other improvements for the 
public good. A desire was thus created for the possession of these tracts. 
A scale of prices was adopted Avhich was graduated according to the size of 
the lots. Prices were enhanced above what the permanent values warranted. 
Lands that could hardly have been sold for 3s. per acre sold here in some 
instances for £5 or £6 per acre.""' Some of the purchasers labored by the 
day on the public works in order to pay for their allotments. At Pitman^s 
Cove on Eleuthera, all the land that had been surveyed was soon disposed of 
and there was a considerable demand for more."" Eligible sites were selected 
wherever they could be found in the Colony, and the people were settled on 
them. But this kind of settlement continued only for a short time. The 
first flush of success carried it much farther than its permanent value justi- 
fied, owing to the lack of virtue in the land itself. Colebrooke continued to 
form them while he remained in the Colony. Soon after his successor had 
assumed the government, the folly of his plan was demonstrated in the 
failure of these settlements. The plan was abandoned under the administra- 
tion of Cockburn. 

Changes Made by Cockburn. 

Some other plan for the alienation of land had become a necessity. More 
and more of the apprentices were becoming free, and lands on which to locate 
them were needed. Adhering to the circular of 1836, Lord Glenelg ordered 
that no more Crown lands should be offered for sale for less than £1 per acre."" 
Lieutenant-Governor Cockburn objected, with good reason, that that price 
was too high for the Bahama lands and that the apprentices would be pre- 
cluded from making purchases.°^^ On application Cockburn was granted dis- 
cretionary poAver to fix the price according to the value of the land.'" Most 

''"^ Sess. P., 1840, 33, p. 69 (115). Report of Colonial Land and Emigration 
Commissioners on the Bahama lands, made in July, 1840. 

"""Sess. P., 1840, 33, p. 69 (115). Also Colebrooke to Glenelg, No. 79. 

''^"Loc. cit., Ds., No. 79. 

'"Ds., S.St., 1838, circ. of Nov. 12. 

"^Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 5. 

"=Sess. P., 1840, 33, p. 69 (112). The Marquis of Normanby, now Secretary 
of State for the Colonies, wrote to Cockburn to fix the minimum price at the average 
price for lands fit for agricultural purposes. See also Ds., S. St., 1839 (Nor- 
manby), No. 39. 



556 HISTORY 

of the lands that were at the disposal of the Crown in 1839 were such as had 
been allowed by their holders to revert, in place of paying np the quit rents 
due on them."" The Executive-in-eouncil fixed two scales of graduated 
prices^ one for town lots and the other for agricultural lands, the prices vary- 
ing in inverse ratio as the size of the allotments. A new schediile of fees 
was adopted. The whole plan was based on the results of the experience of 
men in all parts of the Colony."" In the graduated scale of prices the Gov- 
ernor had almost exceeded his authority as granted by the instruction. It 
was objected to his plan that the graduated scale seemed to place a premium 
on the purchase of large tracts, and that small tracts Avere not necessary for 
agricultural purposes, that forty acres was as small a tract as the government 
ought to deal with."" In the following year Lord Russell authorized the 
granting of tracts of twenty acres at a price of 13s. per acre."" This was 
better suited to the conditions of farming in tlie Bahamas. The average 
negro farmer could not well cultivate a tract of forty acres, and it was more 
convenient for those with small capital to buy small tracts. The execution 
of the terms of the grants was satisfactory to the people."'' 

While on a tour of inspection. Governor Cockburn called a meeting of the 
people at the Turks Islands, and adopted a separate plan for the sale of the 
land there."" Separate schedules of prices were fixed for Grand Cay and 
Salt Cay."'" x\t Harbor Island a change was made in the tenure of the 
agricultural lands. The use of the Common there had resulted in increasing 
difficulties to the planters. A tract of 6000 acres was sold to the people 
for $1000 and the grant was made to a magistrate as trustee for the whole 
settlement."'' Other settlements desired grants on similar terms, but the 

""Sess. P., 1840, 33, p. 69 (112), report of Surveyor-General in May, 1839. 

"'Cockburn to Russell, No. 62. Sess. P., 1840, 33, p. 69 (114). Here is given 
the schedule of fees and prices. These fees were exorbitant, in many cases almost 
equalling the cost of the land without them. The Governor, his Private Secretary, 
the Public Secretary, the Attorney-General and the Surveyor-General each received 
a fee from every purchase of land. Such was a part of the plan to supply land to 
the poor people at small cost. There were at least two unnecessary fees in this 
list. 

""Sess. P., 1840, 33, p. 69 (117). 

"" Ds., S. St., 1841, No. 48. 

"^ Cockburn to Russell, No. 62. 

"^"Loc. cit., No. 30. Sess. P., 1840, 33, p. 69 (118). 

"^'^ Loc. cit. (119). These schedules were subsequently ratified by the Colo- 
nial Land and Emigration Commissioners. Loc. cit. (120). 

"=1 Sess. P., 1840, 33, p. 69 (120). 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 557 

Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners took exception to such an 
arbitrary manner of granting land, altliough the Harbor Island people 
expressed satisfaction with the method. 

The best of these plans for granting land gave no permanent satisfaction 
to the holders. The prices were too high for lands of snch poor quality. 
Squatting prevailed both under the apprenticeship system and afterwards. 
In 1839 the House of Assembly threw out the Governor's bill for preventing 
the unauthorized occupation of land.°^' The attempt of the government to 
put a check on this manner of occupation was thus defeated. Squatting had 
become such an abuse that it caused a deficiency in the supply of labor avail- 
able for hire.*"^ The existing law against the practice was rendered useless 
by its own provision, that a magistrate could not eject a squatter until he 
had had possession for twelve months. The process of ejectment in the 
courts was long and tedious. Offenders were not discouraged by this fact.'^ 
Public and private property alike suffered depredation. The renting of pri- 
vate lands was so unsatisfactory as to engender disputes, which often ended 
by the tenants occupying Crown lands without title.'^^ The occupation of the 
Out-island lands had not resulted in successful farming ventures. A great 
deal of the land was held by large proprietors, Avho cultivated but small tracts 
and offered no continuous employment for wage labor. The difficulty of 
cultivating the rocky surface was- also a great deterrent to cultivation. 
Orchards flourished in some places, and a little corn and a few vegetables were 
produced.'^' On Eleuthera and some of the other Out-islands pineapples were 
produced for the American market. But none of these yielded lucrative 
returns for capital invested^ except the pineapples in a few small districts. 

Commutation of Quit Rents. 

The burden of the quit rents remained as onerous as it had been. There 
was the same disposition on the part of the people to neglect the payment. The 
House of Assembly hoped to gain a reduction in the amount of quit rents, or 
a grant to itself of the disposal of the funds arising from them.''' Failing 

"^^Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 9 (1839). 
^^ Cockbur^ to Russell, No. 20. 
■-^^ Cockburn to Stanley, No. 46. 
^^^Sess. P., 1843, 29, p. 15 (28). 
^^^Nesbitt to Stanley, No. 18. 
''='H. v., 1834, pp. 92-94. 



558 HISTORY 

to attain this, it discussed the question of commuting the whole of them in a 
lump sum. As these were the sole revenues of the Colony which were not 
at the disposal of the House of Assembly, it was not expedient for the Crown 
to part with the control of them without the guarantee of a fair equivalent. 
The House of Assembly was long unwilling either to accept the terms offered 
to it for a commutation, or to make any just offer. By 1845 the amount of 
the arrears had reached several thousand pounds, the amount falling due 
annually being nearly £800. Not more than one-fourth of them, it 
was estimated, could have been collected. Owing to the financial straits of 
the Colony in 1845, the Assembly was unable to offer any considerable sum 
to purchase the Crown's right in the lands. The Secretary of State author- 
ized Governor Mathew to accept ten annual payments of £300 each as full 
commutation, if the Assembly would vote for that.'^ The Assembly took up 
the matter and disposed of it finally in 1846. The offer made by the Colonial 
Department was accepted. All arrears due on lands outside of New Provi- 
dence, some of them dating back to the time of the accession of William TV, 
were remitted.*'^" Provision was made for the collection of future rents by 
the Colony. Individual commutation was also provided for. 

Salt Ponds. 

One of the most permanent sources of wealth in the Bahamas was salt ponds. 
Salt was called by some the staple of the Bahamas. The warm waters sur- 
rounding these low islands contain much salt in solution, and conditions 
are favorable for the evaporation of them. There were adverse conditions, 
however. The labor of raking salt was very severe, and doubly so on account 
of the heat of the tropical sun. It was difficult to get laborers to work at it 
constantly. As long as the slave system continued, masters could apply their 
slave labor to it. After the emancipation the laborers were reluctant to do 
this severe work, and in order to induce them to engage in it, higher wages had 
to be paid.*^° But the salt crop itself was a precarious one at best. A few 
hours' rain would destroy the results of months of labor. Fortunately there 
was a season in the year when rains were less frequent and when salt raking 
could be carried on. Besides these things there was a difficulty in disposing 

"^ Ds., S. St., 1845, No. 87. 

'^^ 9 Vic, 10. Exception was made for New Providence because it was thought 
that the enforcement of payment there would not work to the detriment of the 
holders. 

"^^ See Balfour to Rice, No. 39. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 559 

of the salt product. Most of it was sold to American carriers, and commercial 
regulations interfered with their coming to the Islands. In the production 
of salt, the lahor was directed to the introduction of sea water into 
shallow ponds, by means of canals, and after it had evaporated the raking 
began. The canals and ponds were constructed at the public expense. The 
difficult part of the labor was in the raking of the salt deposits. The means 
by which this was carried on were most primitive, and the tenure on which the 
ponds were held was such as to discourage the introduction of machinery 
adapted to raking.''" The salt produced at the Turks Islands was of the 
best quality. According to reports it was preferred in the American markets 
for the packing of meats. More than 96 per cent of all the salt produced in 
the Bahamas was produced in the Turks Islands.'"" The entire laboring 
population there was engaged in it. 

Eegulations of 1781. 

Up to the year 1837 the salt ponds of the Turks Islands were regulated 
by the provisions of an Order-in-council, which had been enacted into a law 
of the Colony almost without alteration in 1824.°''" According to its pro- 
visions all residents in the Turks Islands were allowed to rake salt in the 
ponds. The ponds were taken possession of and operated in the name of 
the Crown. They Avere divided into shares which were distributed annually 
to those having head-rights. A master of slaves was entitled to a share for 
each slave he owned, excepting banished criminals. After the abolition of 
slavery, an apprentice was entitled in his own right to one-sixth of a share.^* 
Five . commissioners were annually elected by the inhabitants of Grand Cay, 
and three by those of Salt Cay, who regulated the ponds and apportioned the 
shares to those who were entitled to them. Persons intending to rake salt 
were required to appear before these commissioners " with their companies " 
within twenty days after the annual election. The commissioners opened 
canals at their discretion; appointed measurers of salt and personally super- 
vised the measurement of the product; and together with the commander, 
they heard complaints of misconduct of rakers and imposed penalties on 
offenders against the regulations. No person engaged in the industry was 
allowed to work on both cays during the same year. All work was required 

''"■ Balfour to Rice, No. 39. 

"'^H. v., 1848 (app.), pp. 22-23. 

™ See 4 Geo. IV, 5. This Order-in-council was sent out in 1781. 

"'^Loc. cit., and Ds., S. St., 1843, No. 127. 



560 HISTORY 

to be done by daylight; no Sunday labor was allowed; no slave could rake 
salt until he was proved to be the property of a British subject. Penalties 
were imposed for removing marks in the ponds, for leaving sails on board a 
vessel in the harbor at night and for other offenses. The most common pen- 
alty was the deprivation of the privilege of raking for the remainder of the 
year. All shares tJius forfeited were at the disposal of the commissioners to 
be applied for the defense of the Islands. The regulations were annually 
read in public by the commissioners.''" In the other islands the salt ponds 
were not held by the Crown. They were worked under one general system, 
under regulations made by statute. Commissioners enforced the regulations 
just as in the Turk Islands. Each holder of shares was required to furnish 
laborers in proportion to the number of shares he held.*'*' Kone of the other 
islands outside of the Turks attained any considerable importance in the salt 
industry. 

The regulations of the salt ponds at the Turks Islands were never satis- 
factory to all classes in the community. Although petitions had gone up for 
the continuance of them, discontent was frequently manifested and diffi- 
culties were constantly arising. These regulations imposed limitations on 
the production of salt. The annual distribution of the shares precluded the 
application of machinery to the raking and handling of the product. As no 
holder would make improvements which he would be obliged to surrender to 
the enjoyment of another at the end of the year, the work was still carried 
on in the most primitive manner. The probability of losing the whole or a 
part of the crop was not lessened.^' Capital and skill were thus denied their 
natural advantage.'^' The one-third of the ponds distributed gratis for the 
benefit of the poor conferred no real benefit on them. Idle and indigent 
holders regularly sold their shares to larger producers or to speculators. 
Head-rights valued at $25 to $40 were often disposed of in this way for $4 
or $5. The speculators furnished the sellers clothes, provisions or rum in 
lieu of money. These things were sold to the shareholders in advance, thus 
keeping them indebted to the speculators while the latter reaped an enormous 

^'^ 4 Geo. IV, 5. These regulations, sent out first in 1781, were enacted into 
law by the legislature in 1824. Petitions were sent in to the Assembly to make 
them into a law of the Colony in 1802. 

"' See 4 William IV, 45. 

^^ Ds., S. St., 1844, No. 35, memorandum on the salt ponds enclosed in this 
despatch. 

'^^Loc. cit., 1843, No. 127. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 561 

profit.""" These regulations further produced and fostered disputes between 
holders of allotments. Jealousies existed between those on Grand Cay and 
those on Salt Cay. Objections were made to being subjected to commission- 
ers who were local men. The position of the commissioner became unde- 
sirable and odious."'" Complaints were made that the number of the shares 
was too great. New arrangements were necessary. The liberated classes 
were entitled to come into the possession of head-rights in their own name^, 
and justice demanded that they should be allowed to have their right. 

Changes were undertaken in 1837 in order to meet the demands of the 
day. All free persons above the age of twelve years were given rights to 
full shares, those under twelve to half shares. Apprentices were each granted 
one-sixth of a share. The tenure of the holdings was increased to five years."" 
At the second quinquennial distribution the negroes would receive full shares 
with the rest of the inhabitants. The commissioners were authorized to 
appropriate the proceeds of 10 per cent of the shares to the general improve- 
ment of the ponds."*^ 

Introduction of Long Leases. 

Discontent with these regulations was general. The people at the Turks- 
Islands were not content with the government given them by the Colony of 
the Bahamas. They liked the regulations of their salt ponds no less than 
their whole connection with the Bahamas. Complaints were so general that 
changes occurred again before a redistribution of the ponds, under the five 
year tenure, was allowed to take place. It was desirable to institute some 
regulations by which the shareholders would be induced to make some outlay 
of capital on improvements. The increased subdivision that had occurred in 
the old system was most objectionable. Experience with the longer leases in 
the other islands had been satisfactory,"''' and the Colonial Land and Emigration 
Commissioners recommended in 1840 that two-thirds of the improved ponds 
should be granted for twenty-one years, and that the remaining one-third be 
granted in smaller lots on leases not exceeding ten years. They recom- 
mended that a minimum price be fixed for lots of the same size, and that the 

««' Ds., S. St., 1843, No. 127, also Cockburn to Stanley, No. 127. 
"°4 Vic, 20 preamble. Cockburn to Russell, No. 29. 
"1 7 "William IV, 11. Ds., S. St., 1843, No. 127. 
«2 Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 2 (1838). 

^*^Ds., S. St., 1844, No. 35. Also Sess. P., 1840, 33, p. 69 (143). Report of 
the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners. 
36 



563 HISTORY 

funds deriA^ed from the sale of the leases be expended upon public works for 
the improvement of the ponds, and further that these regulations should 
apply to all ponds in the Colony/" A new act of the legislature Avas passed 
adopting the first recommendations as to the long leases, but it continued 
for a limited jjeriod the gratuitous distribution of one-third of the shares. 
It provided for a temporary appropriation of the proceeds of the leases to the 
improvement of the ponds.*^' In making the grants, however, no minimum 
price was fixed and a systematic distribution was not attempted.'*" Great 
abuses resulted. Shares that had great value were disposed of at low prices. 
The fault in this lay with the Governor and the magistrate who arranged for 
the granting. But the people of the Turks Islands objected to the long lease 
system. They began to clamor for a change, even before the new system had 
been introduced. They feared a ruin of their interests, and the agitation was 
begun which led to the separation of this small group of islands from the 
Colony.^'" But they were unable to secure a favorable hearing from the 
authorities who were responsible for the new system. At the expiration of 
the short term leases in January, 1848, the ponds held under them were again 
disposed of, but on leases for twenty-one years. They received an enhanced 
value when put up for sale, the people being very anxious to secure them on 
the terms now offered."*^ This seemed to vindicate the policy of the long 
leases even with this short experience. 

Adverse commercial conditions added to the difficulties of the salt pro- 
ducers. They were dependent on the American market for the disposal of 
their crop, and the regulations imposed by the mother country on colonial 
commerce were often injurious to the interests of these exporters of salt. The 
Free Ports Act of the preceding century "■*" had allowed American vessels to 
come in ballast and take away salt from the Turks Islands. The ponds of 
the other islands were not put on the same footing-'^" The American em- 
bargo had wrought disaster to their interests. After its removal they had 
been able to dispose of their product regularly. But the people of the 
Bahamas were unable to furnish the bulky vessels that were necessary for 

'^^ Log. cit., Session Papers. 

^'''Ds., S. St., 1844, No. 35, enclosed memorandum. 

"'' Mathew to Stanley, No. 25. 

"" See next chapter. 

^ Sess. P., 1847-8, pp. 26 and 69. 

«" Imp. Stats., 28 Geo. Ill, 6. 

""> H. v., 1802, 86, ff. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 563 

carrying salt cargoes. Thus the profit of carrying the product, together 
with that of importing it into the States, was taken by Americans. These 
carriers were reported to have taken Bahama salt to Canada as well as to the 
States."" A greater vexation to the inhabitant of the Turks Islands lay in 
the local regulations of the salt shipping. The Bahama government con- 
sistently exacted the payment of the old-time duties on the export of the 
product and took from the producers a great part of the profit of their in- 
dustry. In 1845 the market price of salt at the Turks Islands was 3^d. per 
bushel. The same export tax Avas then collected that had been collected when 
salt was selling for Is. 3d. per bushel.''^^ What made it all the more vexing 
to the salt producer was the fact that so small a portion of the revenue that 
was collected in the Turks was expended there, or in any way that would 
benefit the Turks Islands. Eemonstrance against it was without avail."^' 
The pressure of this burden was removed only on the imminence of the sepa- 
ration of the Turks Islands from the Bahama government. 

Enslavement of Bahama Negroes. 

After the slave system had passed away in British territory it continued 
in the neighboring States and the colonies belonging to other nations. Inter- 
course with these territories was now beset with difficulties, OAving to the con- 
tinued application of the old regulations against the introduction of free 
negroes. Many of the sailors, on the vessels belonging to the Bahamas, were 
negroes and it was perilous for them to visit the neighboring ports. In 1835 
William Forster, a Bahama negro, was seized in Florida and sold as a slave, 
under a law of that state forbidding a free negro to visit its territory.'^* 
The seizure was brought to the attention of the British minister at Washing- 
ton, and Forster was released by the courts of the state of Plorida.^^^ 
Eumors were afloat that other seizures of the same kind had been made in the 
same state. The ignorant people of these Islands were not unlikely to be- 

""Nesbitt to Stanley, No. 11 (1847). 

"^^-H. v., 1848 (app.), p. 27. Letter of Smith, agent of the Turks Islands in 
London. 

"^^ Ds., S. St., 1849, Ds. of Nov. 30, and enclosed memorial and petition. 

*"The law under which proceedings took place provided that any negro who 
might come to that state should be sent away with a warning not to return. 
Forster had received the warning, but on his return he had not landed. He was 
seized on board a vessel in one of the harbors. The seizure was thus illegal 
H. v., 1835-6, pp. 88-91. 

"'° Cockburn to Russell, No. 37. 



564 HISTORY 

come entrapped in this way, as there was much commerce between this 
Colony and the ports of the States. As a warning for the exercise of care in 
visiting such ports, Lieutenant-Governor Cockburn secured a copy of the 
Florida law and issued a proclamation, calling attention to the provisions of 
it that seemed to endanger the citizens of the Bahamas.^'" As a further pre- 
caution the Assembly gave the Governor additional powers for the control 
of the negroes. He could now prevent the removal of a negro from the 
Colony except on a strict compliance with certain formalities.^"^ It was 
.rumored that Bahama whites had been engaged in purposely carrying negroes 
to slave territory in order to sell them into slsivery, but an investigation failed 
to sustain any such report.""' During the absence of Governor Cockburn from 
the Colony in 1842, Lieutenant-Governor ISTesbitt gave much attention to the 
return of citizens of the Colony who were held in bondage elsewhere. He 
secured the release of two negroes from Cuba "'" and one from New Orleans."*" 
He sent the superintendent of the Carmichael school to southeastern Cuba to 
obtain the release of others who were reported to be held in slavery there. 
The Lieutenant-Governor of the province of Holguin seized him and sent 
him under escort to Havana. His mission resulted in no benefit to these 
negroes."" Governor Mathew continued these efforts in behalf of those whose 
freedom it was necessary to make secure. It was also reported that Bahama 
vessels were being wantonly wrecked off the coast of Florida, for the purpose 
of selling their colored crews into slavery.""" The mission to Florida in 
behalf of these persons was regarded as dangerous, owing to the reputed 
hostility of the slave owners there to those who interfered with this ill-gotten 
property, and it was difficult to get any one to undertake it,""^ as the arbitrary 
law of Florida continued to be applied. It threatened to interfere seriously 
with the shipping between the Bahama ports and that state.""^ Eetaliation 
by the liberation of slaves that were brought into Bahama ports was sug- 

^'^^ Loc. cit. 

"" Loc. cit., and 3 Vic, 14. 

*=^ Cockburn to Russell, No. 68. 

«^°Nesbitt to Stanley, Nos. 34 and 74. 

''^° Loc. cit., No. 44. 

"''■ Loc. cit.. No. 46. 

'"'- Governor Mathew tells in his despatches of three wrecks of this character. 
They were the Three Sisters, crew of twelve; the Alexander, crew of six, and the 
Jane, crew of five and one passenger. Mathew to Stanley, No. 84 (184.5). 

^^^ Loc. cit. 

""^ Mathew to Grey, No. 74. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 565 

gested, but it was not resorted to. ISTo palliation of the evil could be secured, 
as it was not possible to treat with the state of Florida, and the United States 
government refused to regulate slavery in the States. 

Condition of Labor. 

The Bahamas had long since been abandoned by producers of cotton and 
there was nothing remunerative which could be grown to any considerable 
extent, on the exhausted soils of the Colony. In 1845 the Governor wrote 
that there were no means of employment in agriculture except in a few favored 
locations.""" The salt industry which was chiefly confined to the Turks Islands, 
offered employment to the laborers in that group, but in other parts the male 
portion of the population were engaged in such agriculture as there was, and 
in fishing, shipbuilding, and many in the uncertain industry of wrecking.'""' 
Meager returns, at best, came from any of these occupations. There was, how- 
ever, no considerable depletion of the population. Some did emigrate. The 
stern dealing with the colonists on the slavery question had caused such discon- 
tent, as to lead to the emigration of discontented persons who found it " impos- 
sible longer to live here in peace." The restrictions on commerce im- 
posed by the British Parliament caused others to contrast their own 
position with that of the freedom of the neighboring States. Some 
left because of this. American traders coming to Eleuthera enticed away 
some from that place.""' Those who left the Colony in this manner were mostly 
white men. As for the negro laborers, not many of them had sufficient means to 
enable them to emigrate. There was, however, a demand for labor in the sugar- 
producing colonies, and the people of the latter learned that there were un- 
employed laborers in the Bahamas. As early as 1838 speculators from Damarara 
and Gruiana began coming to the Colony to make contracts with Bahama 
negroes for work on sugar plantations elsewhere.*"' They offered increased 
wages and pecuniary advances in order to induce the laborers to engage their 
services. To the annoyance of the government, some of the inhabitants were 
thus taken away. Others from Berbice later undertook the same kind of 
ventures.""^ These traders wanted only the men, and left their families 
behind. Some families were thus left destitute of support. Gover- 

"'^ Mathew to Stanley, No. 135. 
^"^ Loc. cit. 

*" Colebrooke to Aberdeen, No. 62. 
'"'* Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 75. 
"<>'' Mathew to Stanley, No. 135. 



566 HISTORY 

nor Ifethew attempted to prevent this evil. He secured the passage, in 
the Assembly, of an act to compel the exporters of labor either to choose men 
without families, or to embark wives and children together with the men."'" 
This act was disallowed at home but it acted as a temporary check on this 
practice."'^ 

Quiet Eeigns in the Colony. 

Comparative quiet had now come to the Bahamas. The freedmen had 
gained a certain recognition as having civil rights, and the old difficulties of 
the Executive with the legislature had passed. The influence of the govern- 
ment was paramount in the House of Assembly. The good results that had 
been anticipated from the separation of the Councils had been attained in 
part, at least, and the last dissolution of the Assembly had thrown the opposi- 
tion out of power. In the new House, while some disappointments were suffered 
at its hands, the government was able to accomplish in the main the objects 
of its program. This House was the first to live out the full term for which 
it had been elected since 1830. 

On the arrival of Governor Mathew the members of both Councils were 
united in action. The number of members in the Legislative Council had 
diminished to seven. The Governor appointed to the vacant seats Gahan 
and Meadows, the respective leaders of the government and opposition par- 
ties in the House of Assembly. From both he dared to expect support for 
his government.*"' The reception to the new Governor in 1844 had been 
cordial on the part of all classes, parties, and sects. It betokened for 
him the support of all classes, in promoting measures for the public good. 
The Turks Islands almost alone were discontented. Some attempts were 
made to organize a black man's party and to stir up partisan feeling along 
racial lines. The Governor asked the cooperation of the legislators in dis- 
countenancing the movement, and impressing upon the new citizens that 
their best interests lay in the attainment of " personal character and industry 

^'"Loc. cit. 

°^^ Governor Mathew and Earl Grey corresponded in 1847 about a proposed 
settlement of emigrants from England, on the vacant Bahama lands. No employ- 
ment offered except salt-raking, and white men were not well suited to it in this 
latitude. No emigrants came as a result of it. (See e. g. Mathew to Grey, No. 28.) 
Both Cockburn and Mathew recommended the Bahamas as a suitable place for a 
convict settlement for the West Indies. The employment that offered for the 
criminals was salt-raking. (Cockburn to Governor Metcalf of Jamaica, letter of 
February 24, 1841, and Mathew to Grey, No. 28). 

■=■- Mathew to Stanley, No. 6 (1844). 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 567 

and not in the force of numbers." °'^ Fortunately for the peace of the Colony 
these things were only significant of individual disaffection or ambition. No 
organization appeared to give cause for concern. Some violence occurred 
on the part of a body of Americans and others, during the negotiations over 
the disputed boundary between the United States and Canada, but there was 
no serious outbreak.^" 

Governor Mathew and Archdeacjon Trew. 

Grovernor Mathew was not allowed to go througli his whole administration 
in quiet. His private character was irreproachable, but it was on this side 
that he was attacked. Archdeacon Trew of the Bahamas was his chief 
assailant. Angered by a fancied personal slight, he set to work to secure the 
downfall of the Governor. He complained to the Colonial Department in 
London, piTblished a letter in the London Times falsely representing the 
Governor's position,"'" and was joined by unprincipled persons in spreading 
infamous reports connecting the Governor with a fallen woman."*^ A plot 
was formed, and the Receiver-General's office became the meeting-place of the 
parties, where invectives were loudly declaimed against Governor Mathew."" 
Petitions were sent to London and to the bishop of Jamaica praying for his re- 
call. The archdeacon called a meeting of the local clergy, and rushed through 
it without discussion a set of previously prepared resolutions denouncing this 
alleged misconduct of the head of the government."" Accusations were kept 
up until the autumn of 1848. But the evidence in the affair was not all 
against .the Governor. The bishop,"' the local clergy, both Anglican and 
sectarian,"*" the members of the two legislative bodies, and the general public,"'' 
refused to believe in the accusations. The bishop reprimanded the archdeacon, 
and refused to admit him to holy orders. Finally the haughty ecclesiastic was 
humbled. He could gain no general credence for his accusations. He re- 
pented of his unprovoked course, but blundered again in attempting to make 

"" H. v., 1846-7, p. 117. 

"'* Mathew to Gladstone, No. 43. 

=" Mathew to Stanley, separate Ds. of Jan. 10, 1846; also of Dec. 19, 1848. 

^~^ Mathew to Stanley, separate Ds. of Sept. 9, 1848. 

"" Mathew to Grey, No. 14. 

''^^ See Mathew to Grey, separate Ds. of Dec. 19, 1848, Nos. 1 and 2; also Ds. 
No. 148 (1848); also letter to the Bishop of Jamaica of Sept. 23, 1848, in Misc. 
Letter Book of Governors, 1838-50. 

"'Mathew to Grey, separate Ds. of Dec. 19, 1848. 

^^Loc. cit. Ds. of Sep. 25 and Dec. 19, 1848. 

•^i Enclosures in Ds. of Mathew to Grey, No. 14 (1849). 



568 HISTORY 

denials of his own misconduct to the bishop. It was too late to retract. His 
desire to get revenge had brought him only disrepute. To some of his ac- 
complices, participation in this affair was only an added act of baseness. 
Such were the associates in iniquity of one who should have been an example 
to the people of the Colony. 

This affair caused the removal of George B. Mathew from the govern- 
ment of the Bahamas. The Colonial Department in London acquitted him 
of the charges but would no longer intrust to him the administration of 
the government.'^' Earl Grey, the Secretary of State for the colonies, 
had evidently thought that the woman, with whom he was accused, 
had some claims on him, for he had used his patronage to help her 
husband. On the discovery of this fact Earl Grey decided to recall him. On 
November 16, 1848, he Avrote : " The confidence of Her Majesty in the admin- 
istration of your patronage would be absolutely destroyed by the discovery that 
you are using it to provide for an unworthy woman. N"or would it be possible 
after it became known, for you to enjoy the respect of the colonists necessary 
to your due influence in the government for a proper exercise of the duties of 
your office." "*' He was further informed that his successor would be sent out 
as soon as possible, and that he might retire from the Colony as soon as he 
desired.^" Governor Mathew left the Bahamas in February, 1849. 

This administration marked an advance in the progress of the Colony. In 
many lines there had been improvement. The Governor's solicitude for the 
welfare of the community became the subject of remark in the address of the 
Executive Council, which was nearest to him in the government."^' The House 
address was eloquent in praise of his efforts for the good of the Colony. It 
acknowledged the business ability of his administration, his accessibility to all 
classes, and expressed its appreciation of his efforts " to carry out every measure 
calculated for the advantage of the Colony and the community." His success 
therein was manifest on every side, in every department of the public service, 
and in every establishment at Nassau. °^° The people acknowledged the ad- 
vances made in the educational establishment. On his assumption of the gov- 
ernment, wrote the Governor, " the statute book was suited to the eighteenth 
century; a poll-tax on strangers impeded trade, the poorhouse at ISTassau 

''^^ Ds., S. St., 1848, separate Ds. of Nov. 16. 

^^ Log. cit. 

'^Loc. cit. 

'^Mathew to Grey, No. 14 (1849), enclosure No. 1. 

^^Loc. cit., address of the House. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 569 

was the sole public institution and the militia was but a name/' °" In spite of 
the famine and depression in trade during his administration of four years the 
colonial debt had been reduced and a surplus revenue secured; the poor estab- 
lishment was enlarged and a hospital and dispensary established; a public 
library was added to the equipment for education ; the militia was placed on a 
substantial basis ; the civil list was adjusted to the existing needs of the Colony 
and the efficiency of the officials was increased; salt ponds were everywhere 
worked, fruit growing extended and the tariff schedules readjusted; in every 
department the colonial service experienced the touch of an administrator.*^ 
It was a hard fate that this man who had done so much for the Colony, the first 
Governor in the nineteenth century who had been able to secure harmony in 
the government service, should have become the mark of all the calumnies that 
were heaped upon George B. Mathew. " A prophet is not without honor save 
in his own country." 

LATER HISTORY OP THE BAHAMAS. 
During the latter half of the nineteenth century the people of the Bahamas 
have remained contented under British rule. The slavery question passed out 
of men's minds and the control of local affairs was taken into other hands than 
those of the radical, former slaveholders. The Colony now entered upon a 
period of internal quiet, which with a few temporary interruptions has contin- 
ued to the present time. Some of the more important topics in the recent 
history of the Colony will now be discussed briefly. 

The Sepakation of the Tueks Islands fkom the Bahamas. 

Before the close of Governor Mathew's term of office in 1849, the territory 
of the Bahamas was decreased by the separation of Turks Islands. This small 
group of islands, situated 500 miles from the capital of the Colony, had never 
been contented under the Bahama government. The people of Turks Islands 
claimed that they did not belong to the Bahamas, and after refusing to partici- 
pate in the government, submitted to it only by the order of a proclamation 
from the Crown. Still it Avas odious to them to accept the government of a 
Colony in whose interests they shared so little. While the Bahamas were 
almost wholly agricultural, the Turks Islands produced nothing but salt. When 
the former legislated to protect agricultural interests, the regulations often 

*'^' See Mathew to Grey, No. 71. 

•^^ Mathew to Grey, No. 71, and the addresses above referred to. 



570 HISTORY 

bore with grievous weight on the latter. The Turks Islands were also so far 
removed from the seat of government as to gain little benefit from connection 
with the Colony. Communication with Kassau was hindered by a long stretch 
of treacherous seas, swept with tides and full of dangerous rocks. Contrary 
winds added to the difficulty of navigating here. Intercourse with London was 
regular and far more frequent than that with N"assau. The evil results of this 
were, that little was done to preserve public order in this community; that 
the people here Avere practically denied recourse to the higher courts of the 
Colony ; that they knew little of the conduct of the government ; and worst of 
all, that for many years they neither participated in, nor exerted influence 
upon, the affairs of that government. But all these things might have been 
borne with, had it not been for the careless financial treatment accorded them. 

Although the Turks Islands consisted of but two small islands and some 
insignificant cays they nevertheless contained one-tenth of the population of 
the Colony, and were the most important industrial community in the 
Bahamas. Their contribution to the public revenues was far out of proportion 
to their population. In the twenty years from 1827 to 1847 they yielded nearly 
one-fourth of the whole income of the public treasury, but their interests were 
left out of consideration in making up the budget of the Colony. And only 
about one-half of the money collected in these islands was expended in any way 
which would benefit their people. In 1845, when the price of salt was low, the 
same duty was collected on its exportation that had been taken at the beginning 
of the century when salt was much higher. The protective duties frequently 
imposed on food products, although benefiting other interests, operated preju- 
dicially to the Turks Islands, whose people imported all their necessaries except 
salt. 

The Turks Islands had remonstrated repeatedly against these evils, and as 
often prayed for relief. But this had proved to be of little avail. To many 
complaints a deaf ear was turned; to others the Bahama Assembly had re- 
sponded with futile measures of relief. At Nassau those who controlled the 
government knew little and cared less about the interests of the Turks Islands, 
and matters grew worse instead of better. In 1844, a new set of regulations of 
the salt ponds was introduced. The old short term leases that had prevailed 
for many years were superseded by a system of long ones. The people feared 
ruin from these new measures. Burdened as they were in other ways they 
could not submit to what they considered to be a new imposition. They pro- 
tested against it. They seized upon their connection with the Bahama gov- 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 571 

ernment as the cause of this new difficulty and clamored for a separation from 
the Colony. The agitation begun over this really Mase change in' the conduct 
of the salt ponds led to a long series of complaints, and in urging the question 
of the separation, the people reiterated all their past grievances. 

The authorities at London and the Governor at Kassau investigated the 
conditions and found that there were legitimate causes of complaint. Chief 
among these was the financial grievance, already mentioned. Attempts were 
made to remedy the evils and to reconcile the people to the Colonial govern- 
ment. They were not, however, to be thus diverted from the real object of 
their petitions. They were not discouraged by the refusal of a hearing to their 
agent in London or by the rejection of their petition for the separation. 
They were determined, if possible, to be severed from the oppressive Colony. 
They never lost the confidence that their object would be attained if the actual 
conditions could be brought to the attention of the authorities. 

Governor Mathew at first minimized the importance of their grievances 
and represented that the agitation was due to a few disafi'ected individuals. 
But upon a thorough investigation of the conditions he admitted the existence 
of the evils, and in 1847 recommended the separation. The Turks Islands did 
not cease, however, in their efforts to secure the great object they desired. 
Earl Grey, who took charge of the Colonial Department in 1846, was the 
third Colonial Secretary to whom they had applied for this purpose, and at 
last in 1848, he sent to the Governor plans for the separation. The latter 
framed a bill embodying the terms on which it was to be allowed, secured its 
passage through the reluctant legislature, and the connection of the Turks 
with the Bahamas Avas severed. The Caicos Islands, which lie near the Turks, 
were placed with them. The tAvo groups Avere henceforth to be ruled by a 
President and Council, directed by orders of the CroAvn-in-council, and under 
the supervision of the GoA^ernor of Jamaica. 

This division of the territory of the Colony relieved the Turks Islands of 
the burdens under Avhich they had been laboring. They Avere noAV to be free 
to manage their own afi^airs. To the Bahamas the principal result AA^as that of 
causing a temporary depletion of the public revenue, together Avith a slight 
decrease in the expenditures on account of the AvithdraAval of the Turks Islands. 
But a fcAV years later the j)ublic revenues Avere as large as they had ever been. 

The Public Burial-Grounds. 
The established church of the Bahamas continued to exist. The contest 
over the control of the public schools, noticed in the preceding chapter, Avas 



572 HISTORY 

only a first step in the contest for religious equality. Other things pertaining 
to the state church remained as before. But now that the dissenters had suc- 
ceeded in snatching this important privilege from it, they were encouraged to 
attempt other reforms when an opportunity offered. Although the established 
church failed to keep pace with the dissenters in strength of numbers, no one 
attempted, or desired, to sweep away the whole system at once. Among the 
privileges remaining to it in 1851 was the custom according to which dissent- 
ing ministers were denied the right to conduct funeral ceremonies in the 
public burial-grounds. A concrete example of the results of this custom 
brought the evil prominently to the attention of the people and aroused public 
sentiment. At one of the public cemeteries in New Providence a distarl)ance, 
almost amounting to a riot, occurred when an attempt was made to enforce the 
observance of the custom above referred to. The dissenters decided to submit 
to it no longer. In order to avoid further difficulties, they applied to the church 
wardens of the several parishes on the island to remove this discrimination 
against their ministers. The wardens of Christ Church parish laid the petition 
before the Governor. He ignored it and the wardens refused to consider it 
further. 

This was only a temporary check on the dissenters. They were determined 
to bring about a change. They regarded the necessity of employing x\nglican 
ministers at all funerals as a restriction on their rights of conscience. In a 
public meeting they resolved to appeal to the legislature to remove the griev- 
ance. They adopted resolutions declaring their position, and their leaders pre- 
sented to the House of Assembly a petition signed by about 800 names, in which 
they represented that the public mind was deeply agitated over the matter and 
expressed fears, that unless a change soon occurred, the discontent would result 
in further disorders. On the other hand the members of the established church 
were not inactive. They were as firmly convinced of the injustice and ille- 
gality of the conduct of the dissenters as the latter were of the existence of the 
same things in this invidious custom. Eegretting the partisan agitation they 
prayed that no law should be passed permitting the invasion of the long- 
established rights of their clergy. The House of Assembly hesitated to act on 
the matter, and referred it to a committee which was instructed to report on 
it at its next session. 

In the interval between the meetings of the legislature the Governor re- 
ferred the question to the bishop of Jamaica. The latter favored the views of 
the dissenters. Not only did he approve of the removal of the restriction, but 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 573 

he also advised the government to take the initiative by submitting to the 
legislature a bill to carry out the reforms. Such a bill was accordingly laid 
before the Assembly. The House readily passed it, the Legislative Council only 
with reluctance. Its passage was sufficient to quiet the minds of the sectarians. 
The agitation ceased at once. The following year the Governor reported that 
although a " lamentable amount of sectarian animosity " had been aroused, the 
change from the old usage had operated beneficially to the state of social feeling 
in the Colony. 

The Bahamas a Bishopric. 

In 1861 the Bahamas were separated from the diocese of Jamaica and 
themselves erected into a bishopric, and the then archdeacon of the Colony 
was promoted to the seat of bishop. The established church continued to 
receive support from the public treasury until 1869. The disendowment came 
at that time as a result of the financial depression following the American 
Civil War. The discussion of this question of disendowment will therefore be 
deferred until later. 

Commercial Conditions. 

The Bahamas have never had a permanent trade of any great magnitude. 
It was long hoped that Kassau might become the center of such a commerce, 
and these hopes seemed about to be realized when in 1 843, the Eoyal Mail Steam 
Packet Company made this port the distributing point for its West Indian 
mails. This arrangement, while it lasted, added greatly to the ease of com- 
munication with the outside world, but it was destined to continue only a few 
years. Several things contributed to lead the company to remove its base from 
Nassau. The harbor -was not suitable for vessels carrying the mails. The 
route through the Bahama waters was unsafe owing to the great number of 
banks and projecting rocks, and other ports in the West Indies offered better 
anchorage and better facilities in other respects. After its removal the trade of 
the Colony relapsed into the old channels. The ports were less frequently 
visited by carriers of commerce, and the Islands again suffered from that same 
isolation which they had felt before. At times it was difficult even to keep 
up regular communication with the outside world by mail. 

Blockade-Running. 

A great change in commercial conditions occurred during the American 
Civil War. Owing to the extraordinary circumstances existing in the neigh- 



574 HISTORY 

boring States, the trade of the Bahamas assumed extraordinary proportions. 
Although the j)orts of the Confederacy were blockaded by American vessels 
of war, there was a constant intercourse between them and the Bahamas. As 
soon as the closure of these ports was attempted, a trade by blockade-running 
sprang up. Cargoes of supplies of various kinds were carried inside the lines 
of the hostile fleet, and exchanged for cotton grown in the South. Nassau, being 
only a few hundred miles from the coastline of the continent, figured conspic- 
uously in this forbidden commerce. 

Early in the war the British Foreign Office proclaimed the neutrality of 
the British possessions. On January 31, 186^, the Governor of the Bahamas 
was instructed not to allow the war vessels of either belligerent to enter or 
remain in any of the harbors of the Colony except under stress of weather, or 
by special leave of the government. The ports were not to be allowed to 
become bases for warlike supplies; and further belligerent men-of-war were 
not to take supplies in these ports, except such as were necessary for the subsist- 
ence of their crews. About the same time, another proclamation from the 
Crown called upon the colonial legislature to prohibit the exportation coast- 
wise of arms, ammunition, military and naval stores. The local government, 
perhaps, regulated its conduct according to the letter of these instructions, but 
if reports are to be trusted, deliberate infractions of their spirit were allowed 
to take place. There was always an apparent attempt at a stern enforcement 
of the regulations, on the approach of the warships of the United States. On 
the other hand, there was a certain indulgence shown towards violations of the 
same, which turned out to the profit of the rebels. 

Early in the year 1862 the Flambeau, an American vessel, came to Nassau. 
Her captain desired to come into the harbor to fill her coal bunkers from a 
collier which attended her. Governor Bayley denied the request and was up- 
held by the authorities at London. Soon after this Charles Francis Adams, the 
American minister at London, protested to Lord Eussell against the employ- 
ment of Nassau as an entrepot for contraband trade and a refuge for blockade- 
runners. Although a strict enforcement of neutral regulations did not require 
the prohibition of these practices. Lord Eussell did warn British ship owners 
and merchants, that Great Britain would not protect their vessels against 
search and seizure by the American navy; and advised that the true course 
for them as neutrals was to refrain from the forbidden traffic, as it could only 
cause irritation in the relations between the United States and Great Britain. 
However great the inconveniences of the probable interference with this com- 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 575 

merce, it was engaged in entirel^y at the risk of its carriers. But reports of real 
violations of neutrality, wliicli were undisputed, came to the American author- 
ities. Mr. Adams also complained that the same port was being used as a place 
of deposit for munitions of war for the rebellious ptates, and that a gunl)oat 
built in England had resorted to Nassau to receive a crew of Confederate sailors, 
and thence to prey upon American commerce. 

Severe treatment was accorded to vessels and crews that fell into the 
hands of the blockading squadron. One-half of the vessels that tried to make 
the trip in 1862 were captured. In May, 1863, the Margaret and Jessie, ply- 
ing between Nassau and Charleston, was fired upon and sunk near the island 
of Eleuthera by the man-of-war Bhode Island. Her commander claimed that 
she was engaged in legitimate trade and that she was fired on Avithin one mile 
of the shore line of British territory. These claims were not sustained by the 
findings of the American prize court and no redress was given. In spite of the 
frequency of the captures the trade increased. The profits to be derived from 
a successful trip were so great that many were willing to undergo the risks. 
Great quantities of supplies were carried to Nassau from British and even 
from American ports, which were destined for the use of the Confederates. 
Trade from Liverpool and Cardifl", that could not otherwise have hoped to reach 
the southern States, was conducted with comparative safety through the port 
of Nassau. The customs oflQcers at New York required security for the good 
faith of certain shipments made from there to the Bahamas. Great Britain 
protested against the bonding of British carriers in this way. 

In the latter part of the war, the frequenting of Bahama ports by United 
States warships formed the subject of protests from London. Abaco, Inagua, 
the Biminis and other places were visited, and complaint was made that a 
virtual blockade was maintained at some of them. But the Bahamas were not 
the sole transgressors. Other parts of the British West Indies were also 
used as bases of the same kind of semi-hostile operations against the United 
States. Both sides were gnilty of infractions against proper conduct. The 
British islands, however, profited more by it than did the American navy. 

Nassau flourished. Her prosperity was altogether due to the part which 
her harbor and geographic position played in this commerce with the south- 
ern cities. Both imports and exports rose to a high point. The imports 
amounted to £274,581, in 1861, to £1,250,322 in 1862, and to £3,368,567 in 
1863. The exports had stood at £141,896 in 1860. In 1861 they rose to 



576 HISTORY 

£195,584, in 1862, to £1,007,755, and in 1863 to £3,368,567^ The profits of a 
successful venture were onl}'- enhanced as the Union troops drew their lines 
more closely on the Confederacy and other sources of supply were cut off. 
Prices of necessaries became very dear in parts of the South. Trading through 
the blockade reached its highest point about the close of the year 1864. The 
imports at Nassau for that year amounted to £5,346,112, the exports to £4,672,- 
398. But in March, 1865, the American consul at that place reported that 
blockade-running had become a thing of the past. This sudden decline was 
doubtless due to the reopening of the southern ports after Sherman's march to 
the sea. 

While this commerce was so flourishing, ISTassau reached the high tide of 
her prosperity. Mercantile and professional pursuits made fortunes rapidly; 
but persons with fixed salaries suffered on account of the great rise in the prices 
of necessaries. The value of landed propert}^ at Nassau was increased to 300 
and 400 per cent. Wharf space on the harbor front became so valuable that 
the harbor along the shoreline was filled in and several new blocks thus added 
to the city. Great was the profit at the expense of the belligerents. These 
were the halcyon days of the Bahamas, and the inhabitants still think of the 
days of the war as the " good old times '^ of prosperity and plenty. 

The people Avere exultant over their good fortune. In 1863, Governor 
Bayley addressed the Assembly, dwelling on this new commerce as a principal 
theme in his speech. He congratulated the people that under British protec- 
tion they could have commercial relations Avith either belligerent. On the 
other hand he lamented that this commerce was exposed to frequent losses at 
the hands of the naval power predominant in the neighboring waters. He fur- 
ther lamented that American publicists were insisting that the conduct of the 
people of the Bahamas was not consistent with relations of friendship and 
amity with the United States. He gloried in this prosperity, although it was at 
the expense of a nation struggling for self-preservation. In 1864 the Governor 
went still further in the same tone, but his speeches to the legislature did not 
meet with approval at London. The Duke of Newcastle, of the Colonial De- 
partment, refused to approve of the Governor's reference to the practice of 

"*" A slight difference appears between the report from which these figures are 
taken and that given by Northcroft in his " Slietches of Summerland " (p. 303), 
in the item of exports for the year 1860. The figures here given are taken from 
the reports of Governor Rawson on the state of the colony for the years 1862 and 
1863, as printed in the Session Papers of Parliament for 1864, vol. 40, p. 11, and 
1865, vol. 37, p. 16. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 577 

blockade-running. He admitted, with the latter, that international comity did 
not bind Great Britain to repress the practice, but he warned him that blockade- 
running was a breach of the belligerent's right of blockade, and that the power 
sinned against could properly complain that the representative of the Crown 
of Great Britain was speaking officially and encouragingly of a practice that was 
injurious to its interests. It might sound well to the Bahama ear, but by 
doing it the Governor laid himself open to the charge of conduct unfriendly to 
a neighbor, thus impairing the position of the government he was serving. 
The Governor attempted to justify himself on the ground that eminent jurists 
and publicists admitted the right of running through the blockade of a belliger- 
ent. But his attempted justifications failed to remove Newcastle's objections 
to his speech. He was advised that whatever opinions he might hold, he was 
not expected, without authority, to express them respecting the relations of 
Great Britain and other powers; and that the spirit and tone of his address 
could not but be injurious to the United States. The removal of Governor 
Bayley from the Bahamas took place before the end of the year. 

The new Governor, Eawson W. Eawson, reported that in the months of 
January and February, 1865, twenty vessels reached Nassau from within the 
blockade lines, and twelve others were run down by American cruisers. After 
February, only three such vessels arrived. A very sudden conclusion to a large 
trade. Some activity in commercial lines continued after the downfall of the 
Confederacy, but trade relapsed quickly into ordinary channels, and a period 
of stagnation followed. The great commerce was entirely due to the extraor- 
dinary set of circumstances, as Nassau was not a port to attract a large per- 
manent trade. 

State of Finances. 

The revenues of the Colony had grown great without the imposition of 
any additional tax on imports or exports. Increases were made in the regular 
expenditures, the debt of the Colony was paid ofi", and a surplus accumulated 
in the treasury. These were extraordinary financial conditions. With the 
falling oS of commerce after the close of the war, the revenue inevitably failed 
to keep up to the point which it had reached. Expenditures again overbalanced 
revenues. Before this change took place, the Colonial Department at London, 
noting the increase in revenue in the Colony, gave notice that it must 
provide out of its own funds for the salary of the Governor. Such an instruc- 
tion, however, could not have been based upon a study of the permanent 
37 



578 ■ HISTOEY 

finances of the Bahamas. Eetrenchnients now became necessary in order to 
keep salaries and expenditures adjusted to the depleted state of the revenues. 
A hurricane accompanied by an enormous destruction of property occurred in 
1866, and added to the embarrassm'ent. By 1868 the deficits had become so 
great as to threaten the credit of the Colony, and some difficulty was experienced 
in securing a readjustment of the finances. 

DiSENDOWMENT OF THE ESTABLISHED ChURCH. 

Convenient methods of reducing public expenditures were now sought for. 
Some of the members of the House of . Assembly found an expedient in a 
proposal to withdraw the public support from the established church. The 
majority of the people of the Colony were not favorable to that church, and the 
double tax for church purposes on the members of dissenting congregations 
was viewed with displeasure. The process of disestablishment had been begun 
already, and in the then low state of the revenues it seemed to be an opportune 
time to begin the agitation for disendowment. A great reduction in expendi- 
tures would be effected if the cost of the church establishment were saved to 
the Colony. 

D^uring a session of the legislature in March, 1868, a member of the 
House brought up the question without previous warning. He introduced a 
set of resolutions embodying a scheme for the disendowment. His proposals 
were carried by a majority of four, and a committee was at once appointed to 
bring in a bill in accordance with them. Such a bill was readily passed in 
the House. But in the Council it was rejected. When this intelligence reached 
the House, Sawyer, the leading advocate of the bill, proposed to call upon the 
Grovernor to dissolve the Assembly and order a new election. The same 
majority that had carried this bill for the disendowment carried this proposal 
also. The Governor, hoAvever, regarded such a call upon him as an attempted 
infringement of the prerogative. He expressed his ignorance of the alleged 
discontent on the part of the people as to the church question, and refused to 
dissolve the Assembly. The House now unearthed a number of precedents for 
its request for the dissolution, caused the resignation of its presiding officer 
and adjourned for three months. Before the expiration of that period 
a dissolution occurred. On the meeting of the newly elected representatives in 
June of the same year, a disputed seat in the new House occupied first place 
in the deliberations of the session. According to the returns. Sawyer, who 
had led the attack on the established church, had failed to be elected. He 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 579 

made charges of -unfairness at the polls and petitioned the House to allow him 
to occupy the disputed seat. Counter charges, and petitions were offered in 
behalf of his opponent. A House committee secured information and made a 
report on the matter. This report may have been impartial and the subsequent 
action of the House just, but it was a strictly partisan vote that rejected the 
petitions of the Anglican candidate and allowed Sawyer to take the contested 
seat. Both his leadership and his vote would have been lost if his application 
had failed. Again he moved for a consideration of the disendowment question. 
Loyal churchmen attempted to postpone the evil day. But the old partisan 
vote carried a new bill to " amend the ecclesiastical laws of the Colony.^' The 
Legislative Council repeated its action of the preceding session and the measure 
was again rejected. 

Such obstacles could, however, only temporarily cheek the progress of the 
dissenters. In March, 1869, the same leader pressed for the passage of the 
same proposal, even more importunately than before. The Council no longer 
stood in the way. It merely modified the sweeping character of the language 
of the House bill and passed it. This did not effect an immediate withdrawal 
of the salaries paid to church officials. The cost of each of these livings was 
only borne by the public until it became vacant. Then the salary was with- 
drawn. This effected only a gradual disendowment, but it gained the object 
of the dissenters and secured the retrenchment in public expenditures. 

The Anglican church was not yet free. It had been given control of its 
property in 1869, but was still dependent on the state in other respects. On 
an appeal to the legislature in 1875, it was made a self-governing, voluntary 
religious body with privileges of holding a synod, making rules for its own 
government, regulating its membership and prescribing its rites, discipline, 
etc. At the same time some old ecclesiastical legislation was repealed. The 
legislature dealt with the question in a liberal and impartial spirit, and the 
church was relieved of an anomalous position in which it had been since the 
passage of the act of 1869. The disestablishment was thus completed. 

The Educational Establishment. 

The careful -efforts in behalf of education that were begun in the decade 
1830-1840 were continued. The Assembly was impressed with the need of 
providing adequate means of instruction, and in this it was encouraged and di- 
rected by the governors who acted with it. Since the control of the schools 
was wrested from the established church, no serious efforts had been made to 



580 HISTOEY 

return to the old state of things. Therefore the public schools became non- 
sectarian, and religious dissensions no longer stood in the way of the develop- 
ment of the educational system. All classes of the people Joined in the move- 
ment for popular education. The finances of the Colony were straitened, and 
continued to be so, but in spite of that fact a gradual expansion in the educa- 
tional establishment had taken place, requiring increased appropriations from 
the public funds. Under the stress of financial difficulties the public grant was 
greatly reduced in 1869. From that time up to the present, appropriations for 
school purposes have been growing, these interests still being given claim to 
first consideration, in making up the budget of the Colony. 

In the extension of the educational system great discouragements had to 
be met. In most of the communities that were to be served there was nothing 
pertaining to a school but children. In some places they were so scattered 
that it was difficult to bring them together. Foundations had to be laid. In 
1859, there were twenty-six schools in the Bahamas employing thirty-nine 
teachers. All of these schools did not occupy buildings that were public school 
property, or that had been erected for educational purposes. Some of the 
houses were in a dilapidated condition; while others that were almost worth- 
less cost the Colony exorbitant rents. The teachers were not all of the best 
character; while some of them were of a fair order of intelligence, and were 
diligent and devoted to their work, others on the other hand were very poorly 
equipped. In many instances teaching became a refuge for persons who were' 
otherwise destitute of means of subsistence. The complaint was common that 
the teachers neglected their own intellectual advancement, thus rendering 
themselves unfit for efficient school work. Another difficulty was that parents 
showed a lack of appreciation of the advantages that were before their offspring. 
The veil of ignorance could only be lifted slowly. 

Existing conditions were studied, however, and an attempt was made to 
bring them to the attention of the public. An inspectorship of schools 
was created. The incumbent of this position visited the schools through- 
out the Colony, examined them and their teachers, and made annual 
reports of his findings. Methods employed and progress made in other col- 
onies were studied. Such funds as were available were applied to the execu- 
tion of plans resulting from the consideration of these things. The schools of 
the British and Foreign School Society were taken as the model for the schools 
that Avere established. But the jDublic treasury could not supply funds to 
create schools in all places where they were needed. A new system of founding 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 581 

schools was introduced, which was attended with results that were most en- 
couraging. This was the Grant-in-aid System. Under it communities that 
originated schools by local effort were aided by the public funds, on condition 
that the schools established would be non-sectarian; that they would be con- 
ducted on lines laid down by the Board of Education, and subject to the 
examination of the public inspector. This extended 1 he benefits of education to 
a number of settlements, that might otherwise have continued without schools, 
and served to promote a more intelligent appreciation of the advantages of 
education. 

A serious drawback to the progress of the schools lay in the low estimate 
of their value, on the part of their patrons. Many seemed indifferent to the 
opportunity afforded their children. The attendance was consequently poor. 
Some of the school rooms were reported to be a half to two-thirds empty. The 
schools, to be sure, could not accommodate all children of school age in the 
Colony, but there was room for more than were in attendance. The enervating 
climate, the natural indolence of many of those who were to be served, and 
the desire of many parents to have their children occupied in remunerative 
employments; these things militated against the success of the schools. The 
inspector, noting these conditions, repeatedly recommended the passage of a 
compulsory education law. After twenty years of such recommendation, the 
legislature at last gave attention to this apathetic indifference to educational 
advantages, and enacted ,a law requiring attendance at the schools on the part of 
all children between the ages of six and twelve. At first this applied only to 
the island of -New Providence. But its salutary results there influenced the 
legislature to extend its provisions to certain settlements in the Out-islands. 
Increased attendance and an increased number of school days resulted. There 
were numerous instances of the application of the penalties for disregard or 
neglect of the law in the districts to which it applied. In 1889, this law was 
made applicable to every school district in the Bahamas. This regulation was 
not, however, without evil results. Parents were more careful to send child- 
ren that came within the age limit of the law, but on the other hand, they took 
them from the schools as soon as they passed that limit. The attendance of 
those over twelve years of age was very irregular. In 1897, the age limit was 
raised to fourteen years with a corresponding increase in favorable results. 

The payment of fees for attendance at the public schools was retained 
until 1886. In 1885 the inspector recommended the abolition of them. 
They had been difficult to collect throughout the history of the schools. The 



582 HISTORY 

desire to enforce a better collection took the form of making the teachers the 
collectors, and adding a percentage of the amount received to their salaries. 
This did not have the desired effect. It did produce a slight increase in 
the salaries in some instances, but no noticeable improvement in the character 
of the schools. On the other hand it imposed a needless burden on the 
teachers whose function was other than that of collectors of school taxes. 

For a long time there was no training school for teachers in the Colony. 
Not only did this cause a deficiency in the recruiting of the ranks of the 
teachers, but it allowed a deterioration of those already employed. The 
inspector insisted on the necessity of providing a normal school, repeating 
the recommendation from year to year, until at last, in 1893, such a school 
was established at Nassau. 

Although determined efforts have been made to educate the negroes of 
the Bahamas, the results have not always been encouraging. But conditions 
have been adverse; finances have been low; the climate is decidedly against 
strenuous mental activity; the majority of the population is of a race that 
is not characterized by vigorous intellect; the people are poor for the most 
part; and many of the islands are cut off from frequent communication 
with the outside world of intellectual activity and culture, and even the 
knowledge of the existence of such things is beyond many of the population. 
Still the means of acquiring the rudiments of an education are here; the 
efficiency of the teaching staff has perhaps increased in recent years, and the 
schools are in a condition that augurs well for the good of the Colony. In 
1888 the inspector reported that " all parents within the reach of these 
schools who choose to relinquish small inconveniences can secure for their 
children the benefits of a sound and useful education." This can with as 
much reason be said of tlie schools to-day. 

CONCLUSIOIST. 

Within the last two decades the culture of the sisal (fiber) plant has 
become an industry in the Bahamas. It furnishes employment for an increas- 
ing number of laborers, and even in the short period in which it has been cul- 
tivated a substantial income has accrued to those engaged in its production. It 
remains to be seen whether this new enterprise will afford a more permanent 
source of wealth than other expedients that were tried before it. There are 
several other industries through which the inhabitants gain a livelihood. The 
more important among them are fruit-farming, especially that of pineapples. 



THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 583 

fishing, sponge-fishing, salt-raking, and the gathering of guano and marine 
curiosities. Cotton-planting barely survives, and the old, alluring industry of 
wrecking has almost passed away. Besides these things some of the inhabitants 
depend largely upon the hotel business, for Kassau, with her salubrious climate, 
is a health resort of importance. Kot only private individuals but even the 
Colony itself has engaged in affording attractions, and providing comforts for 
tourists in the winter season. The local government made very liberal con- 
cessions to the present owner of the two largest hotels in Kassau in order to 
induce him to locate here. If finances are an index, the Colony is now enjoy- 
ing a period of comparative prosperity. In the ten years up to 1903 the public 
revenue increased more than 33 per cent, imports nearly doubled and exports 
increased by one-third. In the same period the public debt increased consid- 
erably. A cable now joins Nassau with the coast of Florida, thus, as it were, 
bringing the place much closer to the outside world. Gradually the Colony is 
gaining improvements, that tend to make its island capital a more desirable 
place in which to live. But the emigration to the States of many of the more 
active spirits in the population often engages the attention of those who have 
local interests at heart, fearing lest it be taken as evidence of the lack of oppor- 
tunity for the pursuit of attractive careers in this Colony. 



^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

James Martin Wright was born in Carroll County, Missouri, on December 
3, 1879. He attended the public schools of his native place and graduated 
from the Forborne High School, Norborne, Mo., in 1897. In the fall of the 
same year he went to William Jewell College, Liberty, Mo. Here he pursued 
the classical and scientific courses until he was granted the degree of Bachelor of 
Arts in 1901. He entered the Johns Hopkins University in October, 1901, 
and since that time has been studying in the departments of History, Political 
Economy and Political Science. He was appointed Eellow in Political Science 
for the year 1903-1904. The summer of 1903 was spent in the Bahama Islands 
gathering material for a Study in the History of that Colony. 











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